Munich


3 out of 5 snowstones

After a Muslim terrorist group kills the Israeli athletic team at the Munich 1972 Olympics, prime minister Golda Meir deploys a supersecret Mossad team to travel around Europe and kill off the supposed culprits. Are they killing the right guys? Does killing these people help combat terrorism at all? Is it justified to execute people like this, without a trial?
Spielberg, an American Jew, shows courage by raising these questions which, among many Israeli and their supporters, are beyond debate. But where he shows the team leader Avner as a tormented soul who loses his faith in 'the cause' as he continues to kill, the nuances on the Arab side are much more hidden. There is some political debate about the conflict, and some of the victims are shown as loving fathers or art lovers, but the prevailing conclusion seems to be that justice was done. In the end, Avner is still a hero and the killed men are still villains. But neither is really the case.

Posted by cronopio at 02:06 PM, February 03, 2006