It\u2019s been a week since I saw\u00a0Munich<\/em><\/strong> and I am still in mourning.<\/font><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n I have tried not to give away too much here, but it is not possible to only outline a film like this. It made my list of top films for 2005.\u00a0<\/font><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n Munich<\/i><\/b> is the story of the systematic revenge killings for the 1972 assassinations of the Israeli Olympic team in\u00a0Munich, Germany. The Israeli government commissioned the secret killings of eleven of the Palestinians who planned the assassinations. The Israeli\u2019s rationalized them by the necessity that civilizations sometimes need \u201cto negotiate the compromise of their values\u201d \u2013 as the film has Prime Minister Golda Meir (Lynn Cohen) declares in a quiet tone, steeled with resolve.\u00a0<\/font><\/p>\n <\/i><\/b><\/font>\u00a0<\/p>\n Munich <\/i><\/b>opens with the blow by blow account of what began that early morning at the Olympic Village; it is terrible and violent.\u00a0<\/font><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n The Mossad, the Israeli Intelligence service, recruits one of its own, Avner (Eric Bana); his handler is Ephraim (Goeffrey Rush) who sets up the bank accounts among other things. Avner must sign a paper that he is not employed by the Mossad so that if the plan goes awry, nothing can be traced back to the Israeli government.\u00a0 <\/span>He is sworn to silence. Avner is recently married and he and his wife are expecting their first child; he is conflicted between his task as an assassin and his family. He visits his mother (Gila Almagor) to say good-bye; they speak of his father who deserted his wife and child for the sake of government work. The Mossad accountant demands receipts; he provides the only humor in the film, but at the same time his lack of concern for how the money will be used does little to balance the darkness to come.<\/font><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n Avner heads a team of four Robert (<\/font><\/a>Mathieu Kassovitz<\/font><\/span><\/a>), the bomb expert, but we find that his real expertise was in disarming bombs and making toys; Carl (<\/font>Ciaran Hinds<\/font><\/span><\/a>), a quiet, almost repressed individual who makes sure no evidence is left after ever incident; Steve (<\/font>Daniel Craig<\/font><\/span><\/a> and the new James Bond), drives the get-away car and is a marksman, and Hans (Hanns Zischler), who \u00a0<\/span>forges their documents. With the help of a Frenchman named Louis (Mathieu Amalric), Avner discovers where the targets are staying. Louis also sets up safe houses for a price, all the while insisting that he does not work for governments. Louis\u2019 father, \u201cPapa\u201d (Michael Lonsdale), an ex-World WarII French resistance fighter, is the actual head of Louis\u2019 network, but his motivations, for all his protestations, seem murky. Papa is also the head of a large extended family that lives with him in the French country-side; the children laugh and play; they welcome Avner without judgment; they feel safe, as if the real world does not even exist.<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n <\/span>\u00a0<\/p>\n <\/span>One by one, the team assassinates the targets, first by rifle, then by bombs. Louis provides unstable explosives (or the toy-maker turned bomb-maker has made a mistake) and there is collateral damage \u2013 more people are killed than intended. Avner sneaks home when his child is born and tells his wife to move to Brooklyn. He senses that he and his family will become targets of Palestinian revenge \u2013 or worse.<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n <\/span>\u00a0<\/p>\n <\/span>The turning point of the film comes when Louis sets up a safe house one night for both Avner\u2019s team and a Palestinian team. Although Avner does not know who the group is protecting or targeting, they sleep side by side in an uneasy rest. Avner and the head of the Palestinian group talk; \u201cYou don\u2019t know what it\u2019s like not to have a home,\u201d he tells Avner. But Avner is realizing that he may have lost his \u201chome\u201d as well. Meanwhile, they later confront one another in a gun-grenade street battle; and a little more of Avner\u2019s humanity disappears.<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n <\/font><\/span>\u00a0<\/p>\n And every once in a while there are flashbacks to the Olympic Village events, to keep the fire going.<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n <\/span>\u00a0<\/p>\n The team was told never to go to Arab countries to track anyone; yet they do; then they\u00a0track down the woman who killed one of their team, and kill her. The revenge killings become personal. One by one, Avner\u2019s team is killed or commits suicide, until only he and Steve are left. <\/font><\/span><\/font><\/span><\/p>\n <\/span>\u00a0<\/p>\n <\/span>Killing begets killing; no one knows who to trust. The violence escalates to unbelievable intensity, and I, for one, began to cry. It was impossible not to; the waste, the futility, the never-ending cycle of violence begetting violence; these beautiful young men and women destroyed, physically and spiritually, before theyhave a chance to live. <\/font><\/span><\/p>\n <\/font><\/span>\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cRevenge\u201d has been given credibility; it has been baptized, if you will, and made a \u201cvalue\u201d \u2013 something worth dying for,\u00a0as if it were transcendent like\u00a0justice, love, honesty, integrity. Even the most powerful nations on the earth, that should know better,\u00a0know how to take revenge and they do. Defense and revenge are not the same thing.<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n <\/span>\u00a0<\/p>\n <\/span>Avner eventually stops after seven or so of the targets are killed; he and Steve return to\u00a0Israel. Steve is interrogated and reveals Louis\u2019 name but Avner will not give him up. Even though Louis\u2019 loyalty is questionable, Avner won\u2019t budge; his loyalty is not. Someone has to take a stand. Avner then joins his wife in Brooklyn; he believes the CIA is watching him, as it most surely interfered in one of their attempts in London. When he confronts the Israeli ambassador, Ephraim is sent to talk to him. He wants Avner back; they argue; Avner refuses. Just before they part, Avner says, \u201cWait; it says somewhere that we are to break bread together. Come to my home; let us break bread together.\u201d Ephraim looks at him and says, \u201cNo\u201d; he turns and walks away.<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n <\/span>\u00a0<\/p>\n <\/span>If the meeting with the Palestinian at the safe house was the turning point of the film, the ending was the final statement of the ideology the film was trying to explore: Ephraim, the representative of the Mossad and presumably the Israeli government, refused to break bread together, refused to make peace. Even though the film stopped, it is not over.<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n