Spielberg's 'Munich' is twisted film; who won?

Steven Spielberg's Academy Award nominee film "Munich" has finally made it to Carson City at the local cineplex. Today it closes. However, it is a nominee for best picture at Sunday's Academy Awards. Stay tuned Sunday.

This is a multilayed study of assassination and its effects on those doing the killing. It's a study of Israel taking vengeance on terrorists who murdered 11 Israeli athletes at the 1972 Munich Olympics. Spielberg interweaves the Munich disaster (the Germans botched the attempted rescue of the athletes) into the running story of five men pursuing those Israel held responsible for the deaths.

It's hard to believe that this is the same Spielberg who directed that terrible film "War of the Worlds" recently. But here he is at his most skilled, employing facial closeups of the actors with great impact.

Leading the Mossad team is the one-time bodyguard of Prime Minister Golda Meir, Eric Bana as Avner. He is called from his New York life to meet Meir in Isreal and to take the job of leader of the five-man assassination crew. He accepts the job but is reminded of the cost when the accountant giving him cash says, "I must have receipts for everything."

Meir tell Avner that "Every civilization finds it necessary to negotiate compromises with its own values" in justification of the assassinations.

Other members of the team include Daniel Craig (Steve), Ciarán Hinds (Carl) Mathieu Kassovitz (Robert) and Hanns Zischleras (Hans).

The five meet and go over their mission. Avner has the names of the targets but needs to know where they are. A shadowy Paris agent will find the addresses for money, which Avner has plenty of.

The five go about their mission, killing target after target, but not without a few mistakes. The bomb maker Robert (Mathieu Kassovitz ) is the first to opt out, saying, "Each time we kill we create six more."

The moral dilemma grows as the deaths pile up. At one point Avner becomes paranoid and tears apart his phone and rips up his mattress, suspecting that his bedroom has been booby-trapped in the manner that the team has so cleverly killed their targets.

Many of the roles are done superbly, perhaps most by Ayelet Zorer, who plays Avner's loving and tender wife. Her scene in bed when she touches Avner's face as he goes over the mission in his mind is love at its most intimate. And Michel Lonsdale as Papa is a powerful figure.

Of course, Eric Bana is the peg on which the film hangs, and he does a fine job of progressing from dedicated to doubtful assassin.

Avner's "handler," Geoffrey Rush (Ephraim), is cynical enough to make the assassinations almost reasonable. His final scene with Avner, when he turns down an invitation to "break bread" on Friday, is an indication that Israeli values are being distorted. He turns aside Avner's question of "What did it change? Was it worth it?" with an suggestion that Avner go home to his wife and daughter and in a year or so take another Mossad assignment.

Avner sums up his final disillusion with Isreal with a flat, "No."

This is a very powerful film, with several layers of ambiguity. Not for children, it tries to examine a complex question and almost answers it. But not quite.

Running time for "Munich is 2 hours and 44 minutes. The film is rated R for language and violence

Contact Sam Bauman at sbauman@nevadaappeal.com or 881-1236.