Reviews

Munich – New to DVD

What I expected was a dramatization of the documentary One Day In September.  Munich covers that fateful day within the first ten minutes.  There are scenes that revisit the tragedy but Spielberg decided to cover much more ground.  Munich is about revenge.  The ethics of revenge.  Kill the men involved with Black September.  Munich dishes out the revenge in brutal blood spurting doses.  While the images you see are graphic they are not glorified.  But this is not a film just about desperation.  It is about the complexity of justice, governments, and what happens when every side feels they are the victims. 

I sat in my seat for the two hours and forty-three minutes watching the assassins kill for revenge, for Israel, only to ask if they were used.  Two hours and forty-three minutes blew by before I knew it was over.  As expected these men are told they do not work for the government.  They do not exist.  There is no reward for their sacrifices.  Furthermore the men they kill are replaced by even more violent waiting to take over.  Each kill affects the men in different ways.  Fear of what will become of their souls, paranoia, descent in the group concerning if their work makes them just as bad as Black September, and callousness consume them all.

Spielberg is a bit a strange guy.  He proved he can really crap em’ out with movies like The Terminal and A.I.  Then he goes and makes solid work like Saving Private Ryan.  What will he do now after releasing the brilliant and crushing Munich? 

The plot is laid out with no shtick Hollywood twist.  It’s driven by its performances and the humanity given to all its characters.  Even it’s villains.  Empathy leads to remorse and regret and this shows on the face of each actor as the movie progresses.  As they realize there will be no end to their missions they age before you on the screen.  By the end all that is left is fear.  Those who made it out alive know they will be the ones sought out for revenge now.  It never ends.  Spielberg said Munich was his message for peace but all I saw was the pessimistic, unending pattern of human nature.  There will be no peace because nobody wants to be the first to lay down their arms.  Everybody wants to have the last word.  To fire the last shot.  No one wants to or will admit fault once conflict has spun this far out of control. 

It’s a true representation of all our ugly faults.
Rent Munich at Wild and Woolly.  While you’re there, pick up One Day In September, the documentary which does a stellar job telling the story of the Munich massacre.

9.5/10

Andy