theartsdesk Olympics: Going back to Spielberg's Munich

When we think of the 1972 Olympics in Munich, we do not think of US swimmer Mark Spitz’s record-breaking seven gold medals, or Finland’s Lasse Virén making his extraordinary comeback from a fall in the 10,000 metres to a record-breaking win. No, the 1972 Olympics will always be remembered for the killing of 11 Israeli athletes (and coaches) by Palestine’s Black September organisation.

Those who wish for a detailed perspective on the events of 5-6 September 1972 are advised to check out Kevin MacDonald’s Oscar-winning 1999 documentary One Day in September. Spielberg’s film is a more tangled beast, its focus not so much on the Munich massacre or its aftermath as the nature of justice under extreme circumstances. It’s a fictionalised version of the Mossad’s covert operation to assassinate those they thought were behind the massacre, starring Eric Bana as the leader with a hit squad that includes James Bond himself, Daniel Craig. What starts as a series of nail-biting international precision killings, gradually descends into a mire of tawdry murder, betrayal and increasingly murky motivation, the pace and mood gloomily slowing as the bitter latter half progresses.

When I went to see Munich in the cinema upon its release I was drawn into the first half’s action but disappointed by the way it wound down into what seemed, at the time, a self-indulgent, turgid, confused conclusion. Having seen it a couple more times since, I've come to appreciate that I missed the point. Munich is a meditation on revenge that ventures it is always wrong but, when served hot and fresh, has spontaneous human purpose – however, when vengeance drags on and on, time erodes its meaning and the darkness at its heart eats all.

And something about the sequence with the Dutch hit-woman cornered on her canal boat remains one of the nastiest in all cinema.

Watch the trailer for Munich