XDA

Went to see Steven Spielberg's latest, Munich. It wasn't as bad as I thought it would be, but it was bad, Spielberg's worst since Hook. I think I'm always more disappointed when Spielberg falters because he really does know how to make a movie. For this near fiasco, I blame the co-writer of the screenplay Tony Kushner (author of the never-ending, unwatchable play Angels in America) for ruining a movie based on a decent novel called Vengeance by George Jonas (which was made into a TV movie called The Sword of Gideon in 1986--I never saw it). The other screen writer was veteran Eric Roth who will not be blamed by me because he wrote The Drowning Pool.

What goes wrong? The recreation of the kidnapping and murder of some of the Israeli athletes at the 1972 Olympics in Munich was pretty good. The use of the original coverage was well edited and poignant, and the Palestinian terrorists were reasonable facsimiles of the real guys (although my memory has faded a lot in 33 years). They had the AK underfolders, which I think is a requirement of modern chic terrorism, but Spielberg cut the recreation into three parts and interspersed it in his movie of what happened after Munich. The second flashback to the Olympic village in 1972 was fine, with a lot of Israeli ingenuity and heroism on display, but the third, during the hero's unloving lovemaking with his lovely wife was unbelievably bad. Sam Peckinpah (as good a director as Spielberg) tried to mix sex and violence in The Getaway and failed miserably. I think it's because sex and violence don't' mix--not all yin and yangs fit well on the medallion. It's memorable, but Tiny Tim on the Tonight Show was also memorable because he was so freakin' awful.

The main plot is the Mossad, with the blessings of the Israeli Prime Minister, Golda Meir, assigning teams to kill Palestinians (11 of them) ostensibly for planning the Olympic terrorism, but we learn later that most of the names on the list, although connected to other terrorism, had nothing to do with Munich. So this wasn't justice after all. Golda Meir complains that she feels like Eichmann giving the order for others to kill. (Not quite the same in my book--do we know if she actually said or even thought this?) From the very beginning, I'm having the phrase "self-hating Jew" creep into my sub-conscious.

The Israelis (as they are wont to do) set up an effective system. There is no central command, no checking with the boss, just a five man team of whom Avner (Golda Meir's former bodyguard) is the leader. Their only connection with Israel is a Swiss deposit box which refills no matter how many dollars are withdrawn. You have to like the team. Avner is played by Aussie Eric Bana. With him is the new James Bond (actor Daniel Craig from England); the guy who played Caesar in Rome on HBO (Ciaran Hinds, an Irishman); an unknown German actor (Hans Zischler); and, a little known French actor, who was my favorite, Mathieu Kassovitz, who is the group's bomb maker. They blow up as many Palestinians as they shoot. The bombs never work quite right. Especially the last one.

As these guys work down the list, they get better at it, as the jobs get harder. There is a big shoot out in Beirut where about 40 Mossad guys get three on the list at one time. I thought this sequence was the highlight of the film despite the fact that the Israelis seemed invulnerable to full-auto AK underfolder fire at close range (like all cliche movie bad guys, the Palestinians can't shoot worth beans). The team members also start to suffer the effects of stalking and killing other humans--paranoia, a loss of will, and a hollowing out of the soul. They stray off the list to murder the replacement of one of the Palestinians they have killed. They seek revenge for the death of one of their own, and kill a woman in slow motion. It's a horrible scene.

OK, I've told you all the good stuff. The history of Israel v. Arab in the movie is either nonexistent or poor. The Palestinians seem to believe that they all were forced off their land at gunpoint (when in fact much of the land was purchased). There is a Palestinian homeland, it's called the Hashimite Kingdom of Transjordan, and that King Hussein kicked the Palestinians out (in 'Black' September) is not Israel's fault. Indeed, most Palestinians were 'forced' off their land by the Arab armies who boasted in 1948 they would soon clear the area of Jews. Hah! I do feel sorry for the Palestinians that their leadership has been so corrupt and incompetent, but again, I don't blame Israel for that. There is a sort of equation between Mossad hunters and Palestinian terrorist in the movie that is disturbing in a bad way. There are other flaws.

That it had an overlay of sentimental Psychology 101 is a big problem. That we never really know what is motivating Avner is a huge problem (and Avner is the only one of the group we even slightly get to know--another problem). That Spielberg doesn't seem to know if what these guys were doing was good, bad or indifferent sinks the ship, to use perhaps too nautical a metaphor. You don't feel you've really learned anything by the end. You certainly don't care much. There are here and there bits of suspense but all are quickly deflated so you feel like you have the emotional shakes. It's also 2 hours 44 minutes long, which for a supposedly sophisticated international suspense film is a big problem. See it if you're a huge Steven Spielberg fan. Otherwise, you're not missing a thing. The lefty critics love it--the audience is staying away in droves.