Munich: The Secrets Behind The 1972 Olympic Terrorist Attacks DVD

Advantages: Incredibly harrowing; raw and authentic; superb score; politically relevant; takes no sides
Disadvantages: Spielburg expects audience to know what the film means; weak in parts; odd end

...Schindler's List has been the only time Steven Spielburg actually applied a human face to the aggressors of the Second World War. That said, this only applied to an extent, as Oskar Schindler was the only "good" Nazi in the film. Munich, however, is entirely different. He adds humanity to the two adversaries; the Israelis and the Palestinians. This is the key factor into what makes Munich such an utterly harrowing experience. His most daring film to date, dealing with an extremely sensitive topic, Spielburg shows why he's one of the world's top directors of all time. Palestinian terrorists took eleven Israeli athletes hostage at the 1972 Munich Olympics, an attack that ended in complete disaster for both the terrorists and the hostages. In revenge, the Israeli government secretly dispatched a team of assassins, alias "Black September... Read review

Ciao members have rated this review on average very helpful

Advantages: Some good acting & a good cast
Disadvantages: Long and sometimes difficult to follow

...Story: The movie is set in 1972/73 in the aftermath of the Munich Olympic attack on the Israeli team in which 11 Israeli athletes were taken hostage and then murdered by the Black September terrorist group in a botched rescue attempt. The movie is not the story of that horrific attack but rather the story of Israel's vengeance against the perpetrators and planners of the attack. An eye for an eye to quote Golda Meir. In the aftermath of the Munich attack Avner (Eric Banna), a junior mossad agent is summoned to meet Golda Meir the Israeli prime minister along with senior military and mossad officials. At this meeting Avner is asked to accept a mission that will take him away from his home and his pregnant wife possibly for years. To accept the mission he must resign from Mossad and give up all official status and become a nobody... Read review

Ciao members have rated this review on average helpful

Advantages: NON POLITICAL
Disadvantages: RUBBISH ACTING

...Sunday afternoon weather outside is terrible and I am getting over a bad cold so I decided to watch Munich the dvd. I had high hopes for this DVD prior to viewing having read a book about the Munich massacre and seen the excellent documentary One Day in September 1999. However I was very disappointed by the film, which tells of the massacre of eleven Israeli athletes in the Olympic games in Munich in 1972, which is the factual part of the film and The Israel government's response to the massacre, which is considered to be part fiction/part fact. The actual fact of the kidnap and massacre of the athletes is told in various flashbacks throughout the film, which I thought was a major fault of the film. The kidnapping and massacre of the athletes should have been shown at the start of the film as anyone unfamiliar with the story... Read review

Ciao members have rated this review on average somewhat helpful