Munich in 1972 and the aftermath

Steven Spielberg long ago proved he was one of the greatest film directors in the history of American cinema. With "Munich" he expands his scope to a place he has never wandered before. It's the place where greatness resides. You want blockbuster, emotion, good vs. evil, deep, light, Spielberg's done it. Now he has crossed over the line into the world of ethical murkiness where things are not quite so crystal clear.

Spielberg always lets us know whom to root for: "ET" - kids vs. adults. "Schindler's List" - everyone against the Nazis, "Jaws" - Roy Scheider vs. shark, "Saving Private Ryan" - allies vs. axis etc. In "Munich" we still know who to root for but even though he distinguishes right from wrong, as the film moves along it becomes less clear what is being accomplished by those on the right side of the fight. "Munich" is written by Tony Kushner ("Angels in America") and he does a good job as usual.

"Munich" is the story of Black September's assassination of the Israeli Olympic team in the Munich Olympics, and more importantly, Israel's reaction to the murders of their countrymen. A group of hand picked Israelis is chosen to hunt down those responsible for the murders and extinguish them, one by one. It takes war and combat down to its most basic element of man vs. man and while it does not question whether it is right to pursue and assassinate the architects of the Olympics killings, it does question what is accomplished in the end with this policy. Kill one terrorist and another, perhaps even more heinous appears.

Avner (Eric Bana) is chosen to lead the group of Israeli revenge seekers and it is through him that we experience all of the emotions of the story. He is the son of a war hero and at first he is gung ho to extinguish the enemy. While he never feels he is doing wrong he does question who is pulling the strings and why. Avener's team consists of a gung-ho South African (Daniel Craig), the most determined to kill of the group, a fellow (Ciaran Hinds) who looks and acts like a businessman that is assigned to clean up the mess after each assassination. He is filled with mixed emotions from the outset. There is a German Jew (Hanns Zischler) who is in charge of forging documents a la Donald Pleasance in "The Great Escape." Lastly we have the volatile, semi-competent Belgian toymaker (Mathieu Kassovitz) who constructs their bombs, which tend not to explode exactly as planned. All are perfect in their respective roles. There are two other outstanding performances by a pair of fellows involved in the tale solely for the cash. What transpires in the film takes a horrible toll on the Israeli assassination team, especially on Avner.

Despite Spielberg's greatness he has a tendency to wrap up his films neatly in a bow at the end (see "War of the Worlds", if you must). In "Munich" he does no such thing. It is one of the reasons that this may one day turn out to be the film that defines his career. Unfortunately, it is precisely this quality that has made some uncomfortable with it, with a few naysayers even calling the movie anti-Semitic. People, particularly Americans, seem to prefer cardboard portrayals of bad and good and have no desire to see any grays or layers. To them I say, it's precisely attitudes like those that get us nowhere, and that is the point of "Munich."