The Hindu : Karnataka / Bangalore News : Gripping performances in a saga of crime and punishment

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Sunday, May 07, 2006

Karnataka

Karnataka - Bangalore

Gripping performances in a saga of crime and punishment

Eric Bana (second from right) and Geoffrey Rush, (extreme right), in Munich

Munich (English)

Director: Steven Spielberg

Cast: Eric Bana, Daniel Craig, Geoffrey Rush

There are few incidents in history that produced as much rage as the killing of 11 Israeli Olympians at the 1972 Munich Olympics by members of the Palestinian group Black September; an obvious choice of subject for someone as proud of his Jewish heritage as Steven Spielberg. Instead, Munich only springboards off the incident into the tougher story of the unofficial retribution doled out by the Mossad, and also resists the impulse to view it from a coloured, jingoistic perspective.

It is this non-partisan approach that lends Munich credibility and rescues it from the depths of mediocrity. It is always apparent that Spielberg feels a deep love for Israel, particularly in a scene between Avner (Eric Bana) and his mother in which she gently reminds him of why the Isreali state had to be founded. One can almost imagine the words she says coming straight out of Spielberg's mouth.

However, this love for Israel doesn't extend to all that Israelis do in its name.

Middle path

Instead, the film takes a middle path, asking the most basic question: "Is every means justified if it produces the desired end?" When the film begins, neither Avner nor any of his team members question the justification for the killings they are about to commit. As the mission progresses, unintended consequences occur — civilians get killed, Avner and his team go from being hunters to the hunted, every assassinated Black September hardliner is replaced by someone far worse, and the numbers on the hit list only keep growing.

The film doesn't attempt a saccharine-coated easy way out, asking difficult answers but not spouting easy answers by rote.

Layered screenplay

And the layered screenplay by Tony Kushner and Eric Roth is buffered wonderfully by the precise use of all the elements of a good thriller, intricate planning, daring execution and heart-stopping failures, all cleanly laid out by gripping performances by Eric Bana, Geoffrey Rush, Daniel Craig and company.

What keeps this film from being a spectacular success, though, is its reluctance to rush headlong into anything. Thus, the violence is curiously desensitised, and moments that should have the audience on the edge do not manage to involve one enough.

And this same reluctance leaves the film without a single strong climax, running through a series of ups and downs instead. At the end of it all, one can't help but feel strongly dissatisfied.

Munich could have been so much more if it had only been bolder. But what it is is still worth a watch.

Rakesh Mehar

Printer friendly page
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail