IDFA 2013
Munich
Steven Spielberg
United States, Canada, France
2005
164 min
n.a.
In the wake of the 1972 bloodbath in Munich, when 11 members of the Israeli Olympic team were murdered after being taken hostage by the Palestinian terrorist group Black September, Israel began a secret retaliatory action. Mossad agent Avner Kaufman (Eric Bana), inexperienced and with a pregnant wife at home, is asked to lead the mission. Steven Spielberg's feature takes over where the documentary left off. We watch as American athletes unwittingly help the Palestinians scale the fence of the Olympic Village, as terrorist Jamal Al-Gashey explains in . We see the fight in the apartment, the failed rescue attempt and the false news reports that followed. By hunting for key members of Black September, Kaufman gets the chance to protect his homeland and follow in the footsteps of his war-hero father. But the killing takes its toll on him, and with each murder the doubts, fears and the remaining hit list just seem to increase. Like , is told from the Israeli perspective, which is now both victim and seeker of retribution. Spielberg ventures to capture the larger story behind the bloodbath: the right to a homeland. In this way, Kaufman's mission is symbolic of a national trauma, and how that can engender a personal one.
Credits
Distribution for the Netherlands
Sony Pictures Releasing (Holland)
Sony Pictures Releasing (Holland)
Screening copy
Sony Pictures Releasing (Holland)
Sony Pictures Releasing (Holland)
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Production
Screenplay
Cinematography
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