Spielberg's account of Munich is largely dismissed

The story of the bloody killing of 11 Israeli athletes during the l972 Olympic Games in the German city is told by director Spielberg.

Munich

Director: Steven Spielberg

Cast: Eric Bana, Geoffrey Rush, Matthieu Kassovitz, Daniel Craig

Cert: 15

The story of the bloody killing of 11 Israeli athletes during the l972 Olympic Games in the German city - and the resulting aftermath when the Israeli secret service organised a hit squad to seek revenge - is told by director Spielberg.

Told in much the manner as fellow-director Oliver Stone retells history; with an agenda.

The film is based on a book - Vengeance Day - and told as an out-and-out thriller, much of which asks and fails to answer so many questions.

In the end one is left with the feeling, however well one might know the full story, that things did not happen in quite the way depicted.

Spielberg's account, already heavily controversial and largely dismissed by both camps, is one-sided and presented in a strangely cold manner meant, clearly, to show one side as black and the other as white.

The events of Black September were horrific, to be sure, but this film fails to bring us any understanding of the how and why.

Star Rating: 2/5