Bifrost
12-03-2006, 12:39 PM
When I first saw the Academy Award winning documentary One Day in September, I came out of the cinema nearly in tears. My girlfriend had cried for nearly the last 10 minutes of the film and when we left the cinema, we were both visibly shaken. We had heard vague recollections of the events which occurred in Munich on September 4th, 1972 and we had heard about some sort of killings which had marred the Munich Olympics, but I suppose like many of our generation, we had never sought to question for more information.
The truth of the massacre had shocked and deeply affected both of us. It is, however, a movie which I have told many people should be compulsory viewing. It is an important movie; an important piece of history which should not be forgotten and should be learned from.
When Steven Speilberg's new film, Munich, was first advertised, my girlfriend and I were both very interested to see it. Once again, neither of us had thought much about the Isreali retaliatory manhunt which went on following the Munich massacre and as I have found throughout many books and documentaries, history is a fantastic teacher.
We had both been psyching ourselves into watching Munich. We believed it was going to be harrowing; a disturbing, powerful movie and we felt we needed to be ready for that. In the end, perhaps we were too ready.
First of all, before watching this film - go and see One Day in September. Munich seems to assume the viewing audience knows what went on in the Munich over the course of September 4th, 1972 and does not dwell on the events. I suppose this was more a device to allow the story of the Israeli "counter-terrorist unit" (read: hitsquad) take centre stage, but the distant, almost intangible justification for this mission of death is bearly shown and even then not before half the movie is over.
And perhaps it is this motivation which is lacking in the film. Despite the best of performances - every actor delivers an excellent, perfectly beleivable performance - and the usual visually excellent standard which Speilberg delivers, the film is still left wanting emotion. Every member of the execution squad execute people in cold blood in the name of vengeance and that fact makes it difficult to find sympathy for characters. In fact the only people I found sympathy for in the film really were the targets - the supposed terrorists behind the Munich massacre. The targets have no backstory, they are simply people who explode at some point or another. This is essentially what Speilberg was trying to do, to show us how wrong the vengeance mission was without painting the Israeli characters as monsters. It is, I suspect, the difficulty in taking this gentle approach which makes Munich something less than a compelling historical piece. Compared to what I had been expecting, compared to what I went to the cinema to watch, Munich came across as a dramatic spy thriller.
Throughout the film I was waiting to be horrified by what I was witnessing, one way or the other. In Munich there is little by which to be horrified. Sure, people explode and there's gore, but it's the human aspect of the film which is missing. Each member of the Israeli counter-terrorist unit is numb and is only affected by their actions in small portions, if at all. Sure, perhaps this is how a team of assassins may act cold and unfeeling, but these types of characters are not capable of carrying a moving film. Particularly when we are only ever told that their targets are men of evil - we never actually see their evil deeds. None of the targets were actually part of the Black September terror squad who went to the Olympic Village, but we are told by Israeli intelligence at the beginning of the film that they are part of the Black September terrorist organisation. But were they really?
Overall, I think Munich is perhaps too close to reality for its own good. International spies and assassins are not compelling viewing, they are simply unpleasant people and unless you see them carry out their abhorrent actions, terrorists are just people.
-- Bifrost
THE DETAILS
Director: Steven Spielberg
Writer(s): Mark Frost & Michael France (with George Jonas - original book author)
Starring: Eric Bana; Daniel Craig; Ciarán Hinds; Mathieu Kassovitz; Hanns Zischler; Geoffrey Rush
Released: 2005
Distributed by: Universal Pictures (http://www.universalpictures.com/)
IMDB Link: Munich (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0408306/)
The truth of the massacre had shocked and deeply affected both of us. It is, however, a movie which I have told many people should be compulsory viewing. It is an important movie; an important piece of history which should not be forgotten and should be learned from.
When Steven Speilberg's new film, Munich, was first advertised, my girlfriend and I were both very interested to see it. Once again, neither of us had thought much about the Isreali retaliatory manhunt which went on following the Munich massacre and as I have found throughout many books and documentaries, history is a fantastic teacher.
We had both been psyching ourselves into watching Munich. We believed it was going to be harrowing; a disturbing, powerful movie and we felt we needed to be ready for that. In the end, perhaps we were too ready.
First of all, before watching this film - go and see One Day in September. Munich seems to assume the viewing audience knows what went on in the Munich over the course of September 4th, 1972 and does not dwell on the events. I suppose this was more a device to allow the story of the Israeli "counter-terrorist unit" (read: hitsquad) take centre stage, but the distant, almost intangible justification for this mission of death is bearly shown and even then not before half the movie is over.
And perhaps it is this motivation which is lacking in the film. Despite the best of performances - every actor delivers an excellent, perfectly beleivable performance - and the usual visually excellent standard which Speilberg delivers, the film is still left wanting emotion. Every member of the execution squad execute people in cold blood in the name of vengeance and that fact makes it difficult to find sympathy for characters. In fact the only people I found sympathy for in the film really were the targets - the supposed terrorists behind the Munich massacre. The targets have no backstory, they are simply people who explode at some point or another. This is essentially what Speilberg was trying to do, to show us how wrong the vengeance mission was without painting the Israeli characters as monsters. It is, I suspect, the difficulty in taking this gentle approach which makes Munich something less than a compelling historical piece. Compared to what I had been expecting, compared to what I went to the cinema to watch, Munich came across as a dramatic spy thriller.
Throughout the film I was waiting to be horrified by what I was witnessing, one way or the other. In Munich there is little by which to be horrified. Sure, people explode and there's gore, but it's the human aspect of the film which is missing. Each member of the Israeli counter-terrorist unit is numb and is only affected by their actions in small portions, if at all. Sure, perhaps this is how a team of assassins may act cold and unfeeling, but these types of characters are not capable of carrying a moving film. Particularly when we are only ever told that their targets are men of evil - we never actually see their evil deeds. None of the targets were actually part of the Black September terror squad who went to the Olympic Village, but we are told by Israeli intelligence at the beginning of the film that they are part of the Black September terrorist organisation. But were they really?
Overall, I think Munich is perhaps too close to reality for its own good. International spies and assassins are not compelling viewing, they are simply unpleasant people and unless you see them carry out their abhorrent actions, terrorists are just people.
-- Bifrost
THE DETAILS
Director: Steven Spielberg
Writer(s): Mark Frost & Michael France (with George Jonas - original book author)
Starring: Eric Bana; Daniel Craig; Ciarán Hinds; Mathieu Kassovitz; Hanns Zischler; Geoffrey Rush
Released: 2005
Distributed by: Universal Pictures (http://www.universalpictures.com/)
IMDB Link: Munich (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0408306/)