Revisiting: MUNICH

When you think of Steven Spielberg movies, MUNICH (2005) probably doesn’t come to mind first. I was one of the few (in America, at least, where it didn’t make a ton of money) who saw this on the big screen when I was 14 years old. I didn’t understand any of it, probably because I never paid attention in history class, but I do remember feeling utterly uncomfortable by the time it ended. I felt shaken and uneasy, like I needed to go home and lock my bedroom door or something. Spielberg has made a real film about terrorism, not a cool-looking action flick with slow motion sequences and CGI. There is nothing gratuitous in MUNICH’s violence and bloodshed. The main message Spielberg is trying to say is simple: war and terror aren’t fun, people. This is real life.

So MUNICH, the epic film about Operation Wrath of God (or Operation Bayonet), the real mission to take out Palestinian terrorists involved with the plotting of the massacre at the 1972 Munich Olympics, was critically acclaimed and nominated for five Academy Awards, including Best Picture. It was co-written by Pulitzer Prize and Tony Award winner Tony Kushner, based on George Jonas’ book, Vengeance. It even stars Daniel Craig just one year before he was chasing bad guys as James Bond in Casino Royale (2006). So why does the film still feel so undervalued 18 years later?

I rewatched the film all the way through not too long ago and think I know why: it’s just…REALLY sad. It’s very brutal, of course, but in watching this film about terrorism and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, this movie gives you a lot of emotion. It makes you feel confused and hopeless. The conflict is always something I tend to avoid talking about just because it’s so upsetting. I like to pretend this was a one-time event or lasted just a few years way back in the day like other historical “feuds,” but it’s 2023 and this is still going on. STILL. MUNICH instantly stands out as being one of the first real, big-budget Hollywood films to directly address the matters of the conflict and the angry, oftentimes violent reactions they emit. Is there a hopeful message at the end of Spielberg’s thriller? I don’t really think so. We don’t know what the solution to this issue should be, and we may never.

Now, let’s rewind for a moment and briefly talk about the 1972 Munich Olympics, incase you’re not familiar. Long story short, it was a TRAGIC, absolutely horrible event. Israel, the new Jewish State, was going to represent its team in Munich…which is located in Germany…whose government was responsible for the annihilation of Jews. Think about that for a second. Already, that’s a HUGE deal. This was meant to be the start of a new truce between Germany and Israel’s Jews. Instead, Black September, a Palestinian terrorist group, showed up, broke into the athletes’ rooms and murdered two of them before taking nine others hostage and killing them later. There’s so much more to the story. (Check out the Oscar-winning documentary, One Day in September (1999). It’s wild.)

MUNICH reenacts the horrendous tragedy in a couple scenes, but its central storyline takes place after the massacre. Golda Meir (Lynn Cohen) authorizes Operation Bayonet and assembles a team of hitmen from around the world to take out men who assisted in the planning of the massacre. The team is led by Avner (Eric Bana), an Israeli-born Mossad agent Jew of German descent. There is also Steve (Craig) from South Africa, Robert (Mathieu Kassovitz), a Belgian explosives expert, Carl (Ciarán Hinds), a former Israeli soldier and the “cleaner” of the group, and Hans (Hanns Zischler), a German document forger. Under the order of his handler, Ephraim (Geoffrey Rush), Avner is given strict orders to not tell anyone, not even his pregnant wife, of his next mission. The objective is very planned out. The five men will receive names from Louis (Mathieu Amalric), a French informant, kill the men, and get paid.

Things get messy, and not to mention incredibly violent. One bomb goes off but doesn’t kill the man right away. One bomb goes off MUCH stronger and nearly kills Avner himself. The more Palestinians they kill, the more their enemies notice. Spielberg cleverly incorporates real archival TV footage of planned and sometimes successful assassination attempts by Palestinian terrorists on Israelis. Steve, the most combative of the group, urges they stick to plan but basically go to other towns to just “kill more terrorists” they find along the way. Avner argues that they should only follow Louis’ orders. At almost three hours long, there are even more twists and turns in MUNICH, a film of unprecedented power and weight. I won’t say more except to say that if you haven’t yet, this movie is a must.

I didn’t even know this, probably because MUNICH came out years before social media and the age when people and movies couldn’t get “canceled” just because some people didn’t like them, but the movie garnered some controversy upon its release. The Zionist Organization of America (ZOA) protested the film, titling their press release:

Don’t See Spielberg’s ‘Munich’ Unless You Like Humanizing Terrorists and Dehumanizing Israelis

There were some other controversies, including alleged historical inaccuracies, but the biggest complaint was that Avner and his team, the “heroes” of the story, were portrayed as vicious monsters. So are they? Avner, as we see, is a good man just following orders and defending his country, at one point stopping his men from shooting a Palestinian teenager stuck in their shootout. There is another troubling moment where after the team murders a woman, Hans pulls her nightgown open, exposing her naked, bloody body. He later regrets it, but why did do it to begin with? Why would he even think that? Was he just so fed up with the murder and carnage? The mission? The shooting and blood? It’s just one of many small moments that gets you thinking in MUNICH. The controversy around the film, unfortunately, exists because it relates to what feels like the most contentious conflict of all time.

The basic, almost “stop-it-I-don’t-want-to-hear-it-because-it’s-too-sad-and-real” message behind this thriller is that vengeance might not be enough. Violence spews violence. If one groups attacks another, the other will fight back, and this will go on forever. Just pick up any history book and this has happened. Avner and his men are just doing their job, but what happens when they take out the last guy on their list? Will anything really change? Can there ever be a solution to this conflict? Won’t more terrorists come out of the woodwork after these guys are shot down?

MUNICH really gets your emotions going. Just writing this review, my heart started palpitating. I could talk more about the simple genius of the cinematography in the film, but there’s no need to because the cinematography is always extraordinary in a Spielberg movie. He’s one of the greatest cinematic visionaries on the planet. Every shot in MUNICH is haunting, and let’s not forget John Williams’s score. I think if this movie was released today, it would receive just as much backlash as it did in 2005…or would it? Is this secretly a bad depiction of Israel or a truthful look at war and terror? It’s all just so complicated. We don’t know the answers, but we can definitely try to figure them out.

MUNICH is available to rent, including Amazon Prime, Apple TV, and YouTube.

By Matthew Bussy, Program Director of PJFM