Munich (2005)

Based on the true story of the Black September aftermath, about the five men chosen to eliminate the ones responsible for that fateful day.

Director:

Steven Spielberg

Writers:

Tony Kushner (screenplay), Eric Roth (screenplay),

Stars:

Eric Bana, Daniel Craig, Ciarán Hinds

Nominated for 5 Oscars. Another 15 wins & 24 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Eric Bana	...	Avner
Daniel Craig	...	Steve
Ciarán Hinds	...	Carl
Mathieu Kassovitz	...	Robert
Hanns Zischler	...	Hans
Ayelet Zurer	...	Daphna
Geoffrey Rush	...	Ephraim
Gila Almagor	...	Avner's Mother
Michael Lonsdale	...	Papa
Mathieu Amalric	...	Louis
Moritz Bleibtreu	...	Andreas
Valeria Bruni Tedeschi	...	Sylvie
Meret Becker	...	Yvonne
Marie-Josée Croze	...	Jeanette the Dutch Assassin
Yvan Attal	...	Tony - Andreas' Friend

Storyline

After Black September's assassination of Israeli athletes at the Munich Olympics in 1972, Prime Minister Golda Meir okays a black-box operation to hunt down and kill all involved. A team of five gathers in Switzerland led by Avner, a low-level Mossad techie whose father was a war hero and whose wife is pregnant. It's an expendable team, but relying on paid informants, they track and kill several in Europe and Lebanon. They must constantly look over their shoulders for the CIA, KGB, PLO, and their own sources. As the body count mounts -- with retribution following retribution -- so do questions, doubts, and sleepless nights. Loyalties blur. What does it mean to be a Jew?

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Plot Keywords:

mossad | black september | olympics | athlete | palestinian | 

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Taglines:

The world was watching in 1972 as 11 Israeli athletes were murdered at the Munich Olympics. This is the story of what happened next.

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Genres:

Drama | History | Thriller

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated R for strong graphic violence, some sexual content, nudity and language

Details

Official Sites:

UIP [fr] UIP [uk]

Country:

USA Canada France

Language:

English German French Hebrew Arabic Italian Greek Russian

Release Date:

6 January 2006 (USA)

Also Known As:

Untitled 1972 Munich Olympics Project

Filming Locations:

Bir-Hakeim Bridge, Paris, France

Box Office

Budget:

$75,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend:

$183,761 (Hong Kong) (17 February 2006)

Gross:

$47,379,090 (USA) (24 March 2006)

Company Credits

Production Co:

DreamWorks SKG, Universal Pictures, Amblin Entertainment

Technical Specs

Runtime:

164 min 163 min (cut)

Sound Mix:

DTS-ES Dolby Digital EX SDDS

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

At the beginning, one of the Israeli players is cutting a piece of bread before the hostage situation began. At the end, Avner tells Ephraim to come to his house to dinner and cut the bread.

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Goofs

At the shootout at the airport at the end of the movie one of the terrorists machine guns the first group of hostages in the first helicopter, throws a grenade into it, and takes off running. In the wide shot of the helicopters when it shows the one on the left exploding, you can see the terrorist who threw the grenade running to the other helicopter and his body is hit with several bullets. In the next scene, that same terrorist is running toward the camera and again he gets hit by the bullets.

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Quotes

[first lines]
American Athlete: Hey! Oh! Shame, shame! Closing down the beer garden. 100 meter dash powered by knackwurst and lager.
American Athlete: Where are you guys from?
American Athlete: What is your event?

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Connections

Referenced in Knocked Up (2007)

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Soundtracks

"Neo Koritsi"
Arranged & Performed by Manolis Papos
Courtesy of Extreme Production Music USA

User Reviews

Means even more if you watched the tragedy of Munich 1972

I don't think the "perfect" movie has been made yet. I don't know that a masterpiece is necessarily perfect, so, viewers will undoubtedly find faults in this movie, some of which have already been expressed in the comment section. But masterpiece or not, I really liked this movie. It told a particular side of the story and told it well. And if you witnessed any of the tragedy of Munich in the summer of 1972, you feel a connection to the events portrayed in this movie. We, the audience, become a member of the hit squad able to empathize with the angst in becoming assassins with consciences, as collateral damage does matter. But the trouble with trying to maintain a conscience is that each notch on the belt is another slash of your humanity ripped from your soul. You squirm from living in the uncertainty of trusting people you are suspicious of in order to fulfill your mission. You nervously plan the pathway to the next target. You seethe with the frenzy of the kill. You perpetually twitch in the paranoia of becoming the hunted, "sleeping" with one eye open and a finger on the trigger. In the beginning you are swept away by your sense of duty to God and country above all else. In the end you are cynical, angry and afraid about what you have done and what you have become.

There are many other sides of this story. It is left to other movies or media to tell those versions. I won't take this one as a definitive history lesson on the subject. Instead I'll take it as a captivating tale of a struggle of life and death played on a complex stage of geopolitics.