Munich
Steven Spielberg surprises me with his toughest, saddest film in years apart perhaps from Artificial Intelligence. Based on the killings of Israeli athletes at the Munich Olympics it actually looks at the Mosad hit squad that then set about picking off the Palestinian assassins over the next few years. Basically, the message is that we cannot be immune to violence however justified it may seem and that the price of killing can be very high even if it is the way to save your country. All of this is personified in the figure of the group leader Avner Kaufmann played excellently by Eric Bana
who is torn between duty to his homeland and his family. The rest of the film is more of your thriller as the team set up explosions and murders and deal with the people in international terrorism. It is a dark and violent movie in places but I found it quite fascinating and while by no means perfect it has a lot to say and is a good fiim into the bargain. The absence of soppy scenes helps a lot. Photography of Janusz Kaminski again up to his high standards as he gives a grainy dated almost sepia image to the movie.
Geoffrey Rush leads an excellent supporting cast and all told a satisfying if not particularly cheerful visit to the cinema.
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