Is ahistorical drama and political thriller film based onthe 1984 book "Vengeance"written by George Jonas.After Black September's assassination of Israeli athletes at the Munich Olympics in 1972, Prime Minister Golda Meir (Lynn Cohen) Okays a black-box operation to hunt down and dispatch all involved. A team of five gathers in Switzerland led by Avner (Eric Bana), a low-level Mossad techie whose father was a war hero. It's an expendable team, but relying on paid informants, they track and kill several in Europe and Lebanon. They must constantly look over their shoulders for the CIA, KGB, PLO, and their own sources. As the body count mounts - with retribution following retribution - so do questions, doubts, and sleepless nights. Loyalties blur. What does it mean to be a Jew?
With this 163 minutes film, director Steven Spielbergtried to portrayed a careful political course towards something like balance. On an introductory talk of the film, director mentioned, "This is a very, very tough subject, and we've tried to approach it honestly and fairly."The time span between the start of production to the release date in 23rdDecember of 2005 was less than six months.Filming locations were Hungary, Malta, France & USA. Within a tight schedulethe entire film unites gave their best efforts both in pre & post productions, which were more than 210%. The film crews called the shooting of the movie as a "race against the clock". In order to have the film ready by Christmas for Academy Awards consideration, Steven Spielberg and editor Michael Kahn devised an editing schedule in which:
All of the scenes in Malta and Hungary shot in twelve weeks were edited on the spot. Each day Spielberg would review an edited sequence shot two days earlier.
Two copies of the edited scenes were sent out, one to 'John Williams' for music and the other to 'Ben Burtt' for sound effects.
The Paris and New York scenes were edited two weeks after photography and the final cut was readied after another two weeks.
During filming there was an interesting incident - a crew truck imported from Germany and laden with heavy equipment, mysteriously caught fire during shooting in Malta, sparking fears of a possible terrorist attack! Local police attributed the fire to generators overheating due to the heat of the Maltese summer. More fascinating and coincidental are 3 of the film casts were got the role of James Bond series;Daniel Craig (as James Bond from 2006-2015),Michael Lonsdale(former bond villain,Moonraker-1979) and Mathieu Amalric (Quantum of Solace -2008, as bond villain).
Although 'Munich' is a work of fiction, it describes many actual events and figures from the early 1970s. On the Israeli side, Prime Minister Golda Meir is depicted in the film, and other military and political leaders such as Attorney General Meir Shamgar(Michael Warshaviak), Mossad chief Zvi Zamir(Ami Weinberg)and Aman chief Aharon Yariv(Amos Lavi) are also depicted. During the scene (around 71st minutes of the film) where Avner's team joins up with the Israeli commandos in Beirut, one of the commandos introduces himself as Ehud Barak. Barak was a member of the most elite commando force of the Israeli army, sayeret matkal, before becoming a politician and eventually Israel's Prime Minister from 1999-2001.Actually Spielberg tried to make the depiction of the hostage-taking and killing of the Israeli athletes historically authentic.Unlike an earlier film, '21 Hours at Munich', Spielberg's film depicts the shooting of allthe Israeli athletes, which according to the autopsies was accurate. In addition, the film uses actual news clips shot during the hostage situation.Director tried to present a real look environment of that black September, to make that sure he gave his more than full efforts not just within the characters, but also through costumes, locations and even in props. Like: one of the posters in the athletes' apartment is of Masada (captioned in Hebrew script). Masada is of great significance in Jewish history, as it is a fortress Hebrew rebel held out in against Roman troops. Many of the rebels were killed or committed suicide, but it relates to the themes of death and resistance in "Munich".
The film garnered a 78% rating from film critics Roger Ebert (Chicago Sun-Times from 1967 until his death in 2013) praised the film, saying that "With this film [Spielberg] has dramatically opened a wider dialogue, helping to make the inarguable into the debatable."And placed it at No-3 on his top ten list of 2005 movies.James Berardinelli(renowned American online film critics) wrote that "Munich is an eye-opener - a motion picture that asks difficult questions, presents well-developed characters, and keeps us white-knuckled throughout." He named it the best film of the year;it was the only film in 2005 which Berardinelli gave four stars,and he also put it on his Top 100 Films of All Time list. 'Entertainment Weekly' film critic Owen Gleiberman mentioned Munich amongst the best movies of the decade. After all these comments only one thing remains to say for the mass viewers', just watch the movie.
" Munich" is a stylish and well-intentioned action thriller that tries to ask big questions, but is stumped for answers.
The reviewer is
movie-buff, he is a
free-lancer
Latest News