Munich (2006)

[oyceter]

I watched Munich with my dad over the weekend (I need to stop watching depressing movies... the last three I've seen are this one, Brokeback Mountain and Syriana).

Mostly I disliked it. It's not the distant respect that Brokeback Mountain gets from me for art direction and etc. I just can't make heads or tails of Munich at all. I mean, I know that the point of the movie is something like both the Israelis and the Palestinians are wrong for using violence to solve problems and that both of them are pretty much stuck between a rock and a hard place, but I'm not sure why Spielberg decided to frame this argument with the Munich Olympics.

I can see how it could be a good movie exploring all these different issues, but I got incredibly bored watching Avner and his team assassinating various Black September members and generally bungling it up. If the movie was going after a political point, there is entirely too much screen time devoted to the ins and outs of assassination planning. I get that Avner is gradually becoming disillusioned, but I feel like Spielberg could have shown it with more, you know, actual politics.

Also, I never really cared much about Avner and his angst.

Also also, I was extremely annoyed that Avner's wife falls into the standard Serious Movie role of Wife With Child who represents home, safety, and goodness and must be protected and shielded by the Tortured Husband even as she encourages him to drop his Ambiguous Activities and Return Home.

Apologies for the excessive capitalization. But that particular stereotype really irritates me, especially when the other women in the movie consist of the Precious and Innocent Daughter of Evil Man, the Femme Fatale, and the Corrupt Woman in Power. Greeeeaaaat....

Finally, I was running out of patience with the movie, but if it were a book, I would have chucked it against the wall during the scene where the disillusioned Avner is having sex with his wife and has flashbacks (or memories, or... something) of the murder of the Israeli athletes while he's orgasming. I mean, EW! EW! And once again, EW! What's the significance supposed to be? Why? And also... EW!

The final shot of the movie is of the New York skyline, with the two towers prominently featured. While it could have been a random shot of the skyline, I got the impression that Spielberg was trying to make some sort of comment about mutual violence and whatnot, but again, I found it rather tasteless and just confusing, given how much of a mess the movie was.

Comments

[hermionesviolin.livejournal.com]

I have no intention of seeing Munich (or Syriana, and was underwhelmed by Brokeback Mountain -- though that I expected, having been underwhelmed by the short story) but I read a NYT piece recently --

I read a NYT piece recently -- "Films in Need of a Little Nip and Tuck" by Caryn James (January 13, 2006) (http://www.nytimes.com/2006/01/13/movies/13shor.html?th=&emc=th) and the following stuck out for me, so since your post reminded me I'm sharing.

The far more trenchant "Munich" has a terrific beginning, too. Mr. Spielberg swiftly and horrifyingly depicts the murders of the Israeli athletes at the 1972 Olympics, then introduces the Israelis assigned to retaliate. But after Avner (Eric Bana) and his team begin to hunt down the 11 men on their list, the film settles into a repetitious pattern. There are slight variations in the action; bombs are planted in different places. Every now and then that action stops so the characters can question the morality or effectiveness of what they're doing. About two hours in, viewers might begin to worry that the film will drag them through all 11 names. In fact, the team doesn't assassinate all its targets, but as the body count rises over a half-dozen - and some of the Israelis are killed in return - the murders blur together in a way that lessens their impact.

Mr. Spielberg made "Munich" quickly, and at times it shows. You can almost see where the screenplay, by Tony Kushner and Eric Roth, was stitched together, the philosophical and the action halves never making a cohesive whole. Its best parts - the moral questioning of political assassination, Avner's emotional anguish - are so good that you wish Mr. Spielberg had made a more cogent, compressed film, one that matched his ambition. In such cases, a Malick-like return to the editing room can seem like inspiration rather than a director's indulgence.

[oyceter]

I did like Syriana, but I can see why people wouldn't want to go see it.

And I totally forgot about how looooooooong Munich was. It was painful.