Munich (DVD)

Munich (2005) starring Eric Bana, Daniel Craig. Directed by Steven Spielberg. At the 1972 Olympics in Munich, terrorists of Black September, a Palestinian group, took 11 Israeli athletes hostage and ended up killing them all. This movie is about Israel's response, a counter-terror exercise in which 11 Arabs, all believed connected to the Munich massacre, are targeted for assassination. Avner (Eric Bana) is chosen as the group leader for a small cell (five men) whose mission it is to kill as many of the 11 as possible. The movie gets interesting as the killing begins, and Avner begins to have doubts about the mission and what it is accomplishing. What is most remarkable to me is how amateurish and naive the killers seem. They are not men who have made their livings by killing, but men who have been recruited for a difficult mission that involves killing. The film inevitably raises questions about the current "war on terror." If we capture or kill Osama bin Laden, will he not be replaced by someone just as bad or worse? Can a "war" of tit-for-tat terrorism ever be won? The movie compellingly brings such questions to the fore, without trying to provide answers. At two hours, 44 minutes, it's a bit long. Rated R for lots of violence, some nudity and sex. Grade: A