Admittedly, I don’t know much about the ongoing conflict in the Middle East. I only know what I’ve learned in class and what I’ve gleaned from various news programs. So, watching this film didn’t have a political effect on me so much as it made me contemplate abstractions such as vengeance and violence, and how the two create a cycle of neverending paranoia and fear.

Eric Bana as the loyal Avner plays a role that defines his acting career to this date. With overhyped and similarly one-word-title movies such as Hulk and even Troy, for that matter, under his belt, Bana hasn’t been able to come into his own until Steven Spielberg’s Munich. Bana shines in this film as the leader of the assassins who is also a loving husband and father. The supporting cast, Daniel Craig, Ciarán Hinds, and Mathieu Kassovitz, are also quite good. My main problem with the film is that the plotline gets very confusing; it’s hard to follow what’s happening at times and you’re not sure who is working for whom. Of course, this could be the desired effect, but it detracts from the main storytelling.

The story behind Munich is a moving one, as it is based on true events. I wasn’t alive in 1972, but the past ideas that set the plot in motion are still highly relevant today, not only in the Middle East but also in the Western world. The concepts of revenge and just cause resonate so clearly in our current global conflicts that audiences cannot ignore the mirror being held up to their faces by Spielberg’s movie. However, I felt at times that the movie was too heavy, leaden in sociopolitical commentary that my little brain just could not handle or hope to ever solve.