Munich is a 2005
historical fiction filmFictional film or narrative film is film that tells a fictional story or narrative. Narrative cinema is usually contrasted to films that present information, such as a nature documentary, as well as to some experimental films...
about the Israeli government's secret
retaliation attacksOperation Wrath of God ,This title was an invention of later writers, and was most likely not used by the Mossad itself. also called Operation Bayonet, was a covert operation directed by Israel and the Mossad to assassinate individuals alleged to have been directly or indirectly involved in the...
after the
massacreThe Munich massacre is an informal name for events that occurred during the 1972 Summer Olympics in Munich, Bavaria in southern West Germany, when members of the Israeli Olympic team were taken hostage and eventually killed by the Palestinian group Black September. Members of Black September...
of Israeli athletes by the
Black SeptemberThe Black September Organization was a Palestinian paramilitary group, founded in 1970. It was responsible for the kidnapping and murder of eleven Israeli athletes and officials, and fatal shooting of a West German policeman, during the 1972 Summer Olympics in Munich, their most publicized event...
terrorist group during the
1972 Summer OlympicsThe 1972 Summer Olympics, officially known as the Games of the XX Olympiad, were an international multi-sport event held in Munich, West Germany, from August 26 to September 11, 1972....
. The film stars
Eric BanaEric Bana is an Australian film and television actor. He began his career as a comedian in the sketch comedy series Full Frontal before gaining critical recognition in the biopic Chopper...
and was produced and directed by
Steven SpielbergSteven Allan Spielberg KBE is an American film director, screenwriter, producer, video game designer, and studio entrepreneur. In a career of more than four decades, Spielberg's films have covered many themes and genres. Spielberg's early science-fiction and adventure films were seen as an...
. It was written by
Tony KushnerAnthony Robert "Tony" Kushner is an American playwright and screenwriter. He received the Pulitzer Prize for Drama in 1993 for his play, Angels in America: A Gay Fantasia on National Themes, and co-authored with Eric Roth the screenplay for the 2005 film, Munich.-Life and career:Kushner was born...
and
Eric RothEric Roth is an American screenwriter. He won the Oscar for Best Adapted Screenplay for Forrest Gump . He also co-wrote the screenplay for Michael Mann's The Insider , the Steven Spielberg film Munich , and David Fincher's film The Curious Case of Benjamin Button , all of which were nominated for...
.
The film shows how a squad of assassins, led by former
MossadThe Mossad , short for HaMossad leModi'in uleTafkidim Meyuchadim , is the national intelligence agency of Israel....
agent Avner (
Eric BanaEric Bana is an Australian film and television actor. He began his career as a comedian in the sketch comedy series Full Frontal before gaining critical recognition in the biopic Chopper...
), track down and kill a list of Black September members thought to be responsible for the eleven
IsraelThe State of Israel is a parliamentary republic located in the Middle East, along the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea...
i athletes' murders. The second part of the film, which depicts the Israeli government's response, has been debated a great deal by film critics and newspaper columnists. Spielberg refers to the film's second part as "historical fiction", saying it is inspired by the actual Israeli operations which are now known as
Operation Wrath of GodOperation Wrath of God ,This title was an invention of later writers, and was most likely not used by the Mossad itself. also called Operation Bayonet, was a covert operation directed by Israel and the Mossad to assassinate individuals alleged to have been directly or indirectly involved in the...
.
The film received positive reviews and was nominated for five
Academy AwardsThe 78th Academy Awards honored the best films of 2005 and were held on March 5, 2006, at the Kodak Theatre in Hollywood, California. They were hosted by The Daily Show host Jon Stewart, with Tom Kane making his first appearance as the show's announcer...
: Best Picture, Best Director (Spielberg), Best Adapted Screenplay (Tony Kushner and Eric Roth), Best Film Editing (Michael Kahn) and Best Original Score (
John WilliamsJohn Towner Williams is an American composer, conductor, and pianist. In a career spanning almost six decades, he has composed some of the most recognizable film scores in the history of motion pictures, including the Star Wars saga, Jaws, Superman, the Indiana Jones films, E.T...
).
Overview
The film is based on the book
Vengeance: The True Story of an Israeli Counter-Terrorist TeamVengeance: The True Story of an Israeli Counter-Terrorist Team is a 1984 book by George Jonas describing part of Operation Wrath of God, the Israeli assassination campaign launched after the 1972 Munich Olympics massacre...
by
CanadianCanada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
journalist
George JonasGeorge Jonas is a Hungarian-born Canadian writer and columnist. He is the author of 15 books. They include Vengeance , the story of an Israeli operation to kill the terrorists responsible for the 1972 Munich massacre...
, which in turn was based on the story of
Yuval AvivJuval Aviv is an Israeli-American writer and security consultant. He may be best-known for his claim that he is the source of the 1984 book Vengeance: The True Story of an Israeli Counter-Terrorist Team by George Jonas, on which Steven Spielberg's 2005 film Munich was based...
, who claims to have been a
MossadThe Mossad , short for HaMossad leModi'in uleTafkidim Meyuchadim , is the national intelligence agency of Israel....
agent. In the book, Aviv's story is told through a protagonist called "Avner". Jonas's book was first turned into a made-for-television film in 1986 called
Sword of GideonSword of Gideon is a 1986 television film about Mossad agents hunting down terrorists associated with the 1972 Munich massacre. It was first shown on the CTV network in Canada as a four hour miniseries and later on the HBO television network. Directed by Michael Anderson and written by Chris...
, starring
Steven BauerSteven Bauer is a Cuban-American actor. He is known for his role as Manny Ribera in the 1983 film Scarface, and his role on the bilingual PBS show Que Pasa, USA.-Early life:...
and
Michael YorkMichael York, OBE is an English actor.-Early life:York was born in Fulmer, Gerrards Cross, Buckinghamshire, the son of Florence Edith May , a musician; and Joseph Gwynne Johnson, a Llandovery born Welsh ex-Royal Artillery British Army officer and executive with Marks and Spencer department stores...
and directed by
Michael AndersonMichael Joseph Anderson, Sr. is an English film director, best known for directing The Dam Busters , Around the World in 80 Days and Logan's Run .-Early life:...
.
The film was shot in various places around
MaltaMalta , officially known as the Republic of Malta , is a Southern European country consisting of an archipelago situated in the centre of the Mediterranean, south of Sicily, east of Tunisia and north of Libya, with Gibraltar to the west and Alexandria to the east.Malta covers just over in...
(which stands in for
Tel AvivTel Aviv , officially Tel Aviv-Yafo , is the second most populous city in Israel, with a population of 404,400 on a land area of . The city is located on the Israeli Mediterranean coastline in west-central Israel. It is the largest and most populous city in the metropolitan area of Gush Dan, with...
,
BeirutBeirut is the capital and largest city of Lebanon, with a population ranging from 1 million to more than 2 million . Located on a peninsula at the midpoint of Lebanon's Mediterranean coastline, it serves as the country's largest and main seaport, and also forms the Beirut Metropolitan...
,
CyprusCyprus , officially the Republic of Cyprus , is a Eurasian island country, member of the European Union, in the Eastern Mediterranean, east of Greece, south of Turkey, west of Syria and north of Egypt. It is the third largest island in the Mediterranean Sea.The earliest known human activity on the...
,
AthensAthens , is the capital and largest city of Greece. Athens dominates the Attica region and is one of the world's oldest cities, as its recorded history spans around 3,400 years. Classical Athens was a powerful city-state...
, and
RomeRome is the capital of Italy and the country's largest and most populated city and comune, with over 2.7 million residents in . The city is located in the central-western portion of the Italian Peninsula, on the Tiber River within the Lazio region of Italy.Rome's history spans two and a half...
), in
BudapestBudapest is the capital of Hungary. As the largest city of Hungary, it is the country's principal political, cultural, commercial, industrial, and transportation centre. In 2011, Budapest had 1,733,685 inhabitants, down from its 1989 peak of 2,113,645 due to suburbanization. The Budapest Commuter...
(standing in for
LondonLondon is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
, Munich, Paris, Rome, and for the
GermanGermany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
airport of
FürstenfeldbruckFürstenfeldbruck is a town in Bavaria, Germany. It is the capital of the district of Fürstenfeldbruck. it has a population of 35,494. Since the 1930s, Fürstenfeldbruck has had an air force base....
),
ParisParis is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
, and
New YorkNew York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...
.
The North American box office returns yielded earnings of US$47,403,685, about two thirds of the film's $75 million cost (estimated). However, the film did well internationally, grossing $130,346,986 total.
Plot
The film begins with a depiction of the
events of 1972 Munich OlympicsThe Munich massacre is an informal name for events that occurred during the 1972 Summer Olympics in Munich, Bavaria in southern West Germany, when members of the Israeli Olympic team were taken hostage and eventually killed by the Palestinian group Black September. Members of Black September...
. After the killings, the
IsraelThe State of Israel is a parliamentary republic located in the Middle East, along the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea...
i government devises "an
eye for an eyeEye for an Eye is a Polish hardcore punk rock band founded in 1997 in Bielsko-Biała. EFAE, as it is also known, plays an old school style of punk, more along the veins of The Exploited or even, some say, Agnostic Front. The punk stylings of EFAE has been compared to fellow countrymen Post Regiment,...
" retaliation and a target list of 11 names is drawn up.
Avner Kaufman (
Eric BanaEric Bana is an Australian film and television actor. He began his career as a comedian in the sketch comedy series Full Frontal before gaining critical recognition in the biopic Chopper...
), an
Israeli-bornSabra is a term used to describe a Jew born in Israeli territory; the term is also usually inclusive of Jews born during the period of the establishment of the state of Israel. The word "sabra" is Arabic and Hebrew. Immigrants to Palestine began using it in the early 1930s, according to the The...
MossadThe Mossad , short for HaMossad leModi'in uleTafkidim Meyuchadim , is the national intelligence agency of Israel....
agent of German descent, is chosen to lead the
assassinationTo carry out an assassination is "to murder by a sudden and/or secret attack, often for political reasons." Alternatively, assassination may be defined as "the act of deliberately killing someone, especially a public figure, usually for hire or for political reasons."An assassination may be...
squad and is given the assignment over tea at the home of Prime Minister
Golda MeirGolda Meir ; May 3, 1898 – December 8, 1978) was a teacher, kibbutznik and politician who became the fourth Prime Minister of the State of Israel....
, for whom he previously served as a
bodyguardA bodyguard is a type of security operative or government agent who protects a person—usually a famous, wealthy, or politically important figure—from assault, kidnapping, assassination, stalking, loss of confidential information, terrorist attack or other threats.Most important public figures such...
. To give the Israeli government
plausible deniabilityPlausible deniability is, at root, credible ability to deny a fact or allegation, or to deny previous knowledge of a fact. The term most often refers to the denial of blame in chains of command, where upper rungs quarantine the blame to the lower rungs, and the lower rungs are often inaccessible,...
, and at the direction of Ephraim (
Geoffrey RushGeoffrey Roy Rush is an Australian actor and film producer. He is one of the few people who has won the "Triple Crown of Acting": an Academy Award, a Tony Award and an Emmy Award. He has won one Academy Award for acting , three British Academy Film Awards , two Golden Globe Awards and four Screen...
), his
handlerIn intelligence organizations, agent handling is the management of agents, principal agents, and agent networks by intelligence officers typically known as case officers.-Human intelligence:...
, Avner officially resigns from Mossad, and the squad operates with no official ties to Israel. Avner is given a team of four men: Steve (
Daniel CraigDaniel Wroughton Craig is an English actor. His early film roles include Elizabeth, The Power of One, A Kid in King Arthur's Court and the television episodes Sharpe's Eagle, Zorro and The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles: Daredevils of the Desert...
), a South African driver; Hans (
Hanns Zischler), a document forger; Robert (
Mathieu KassovitzMathieu Kassovitz is a French director, screenwriter, producer and actor, best known for his Cannes-winning drama La Haine. Kassovitz is also the founder of MNP Entreprise, a film production company....
), a Belgian toy-maker trained in defusing explosives; and Carl (
Ciarán HindsCiarán Hinds is an Irish film, television and stage actor. He has built up a reputation as a versatile character actor appearing in such high profile films as Road to Perdition, The Phantom of the Opera, Munich, There Will Be Blood and Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy. His television roles include...
), a former Israeli soldier who "
cleans upIn crime fiction, a cleaner is a person who destroys or removes any incriminating evidence at the scene of a crime, typically a murder, as if the crime never happened...
" after the assassinations. Avner and his team set about tracking down the 11 targets with the help of a shadowy French informant, Louis (
Mathieu AmalricMathieu Amalric is a French actor and film director, perhaps best known internationally for his performance as the lead villain in Bond film Quantum Of Solace and for his role in The Diving Bell and the Butterfly, for which he drew critical acclaim...
).
The group goes to
RomeRome is the capital of Italy and the country's largest and most populated city and comune, with over 2.7 million residents in . The city is located in the central-western portion of the Italian Peninsula, on the Tiber River within the Lazio region of Italy.Rome's history spans two and a half...
to track down and shoot their first target,
Abdel Wael Zwaiter Wael Zwaiter was a Palestinian translator assassinated as the first target of Israel's Operation Wrath of God campaign following the 1972 Munich massacre...
, who is broke and living as a poet. The group follows him, from a speech he gave to a small audience, to his apartment building. After confirming the poet is indeed Abdel Wael Zwaiter (by asking him), Avner & Robert make their first kill. In Paris, Robert pretends to be a journalist interviewing their second target, Mahmoud Hamshari, about Munich. He plants a bomb in the phone that is set to be detonated by a remote key. The phone number of Hamshari is to be dialed by Carl from a public telephone booth. Carl calls the number, asks the man who answers if he's Hamshari and upon affirmation of name, Robert detonates the bomb. The team travels to Cyprus to kill the next target, Hussein Al Bashir (Hussein Abd Al Chir), by planting a bomb in his hotel room. Avner gets a room next to Al Chir. When Robert detonates the bomb the powerful explosives almost kill Avner.
Louis gives information on three Palestinians in
BeirutBeirut is the capital and largest city of Lebanon, with a population ranging from 1 million to more than 2 million . Located on a peninsula at the midpoint of Lebanon's Mediterranean coastline, it serves as the country's largest and main seaport, and also forms the Beirut Metropolitan...
:
Muhammad Youssef al-NajjarMuhammad Youssef Al-Najjar , commonly known as Abu Youssef, was a Palestinian militant. Originally from Yibna, he began his involvement in the General Union of Palestinian Students. When the Fatah organization formed in the late 1950s, Youssef was an early activist, traveling to Qatar to form...
(Abu Youssef), Kamal Adwan, and
Kamal NasserKamal Nasser was a Palestinian PLO political leader, writer and poet.-Early life:Nasser was born in Gaza to a Palestinian Christian family from Bir Zeit near Ramallah. He was educated at Bir Zeit school Kamal Nasser (1925 – April 9/April 10, 1973) was a Palestinian PLO political leader, writer and...
, a
PLOThe Palestine Liberation Organization is a political and paramilitary organization which was created in 1964. It is recognized as the "sole legitimate representative of the Palestinian people" by the United Nations and over 100 states with which it holds diplomatic relations, and has enjoyed...
spokesman. Ephraim refuses to let them handle the mission themselves. Avner insists that he will lose Louis's trust if the operation is carried out by the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF). Ephraim relents, allowing the team to accompany the IDF commandos. In Beirut, Steve, Robert and Avner meet up with a group of
Sayeret MatkalSayeret Matkal is a special forces unit of the Israel Defence Forces , which is subordinated to the intelligence directorate Aman. First and foremost a field intelligence-gathering unit, conducting deep reconnaissance behind enemy lines to obtain strategic intelligence, Sayeret Matkal is also...
IDF soldiers. They penetrate the Palestinian leaders' guarded compound and kill all three leaders.
The team heads to
AthensAthens , is the capital and largest city of Greece. Athens dominates the Attica region and is one of the world's oldest cities, as its recorded history spans around 3,400 years. Classical Athens was a powerful city-state...
where Louis has provided a dingy apartment. During the night, four PLO members, who have rented the same apartment as a safe house, enter the dwelling. After a tense confrontation with guns drawn, Robert defuses the situation by claiming that his squad are fellow militant revolutionaries, members of
ETAETA , an acronym for Euskadi Ta Askatasuna is an armed Basque nationalist and separatist organization. The group was founded in 1959 and has since evolved from a group promoting traditional Basque culture to a paramilitary group with the goal of gaining independence for the Greater Basque Country...
,
RAFThe radicalized were, like many in the New Left, influenced by:* Sociological developments, pressure within the educational system in and outside Europe and the U.S...
and
ANCThe African National Congress is South Africa's governing Africanist political party, supported by its tripartite alliance with the Congress of South African Trade Unions and the South African Communist Party , since the establishment of non-racial democracy in April 1994. It defines itself as a...
. Avner discusses Middle Eastern politics with the group's leader. Avner's group carries out their next assassination, that of Zaiad Muchasi. They install a remote-controlled bomb in Muchasi's TV set. However, the bomb does not detonate. Hans walks into the hotel, forces his way and throws a grenade that sets off the bomb, killing Muchasi. The squad exchanges gunfire with Muchasi's bodyguards.
Louis provides the squad with information on
Ali Hassan SalamehAli Hassan Salameh was the chief of operations—code name Abu Hassan—for Black September, the organization responsible for the 1972 Munich massacre and other attacks. He was also the founder of Force 17...
, the organizer of the Munich Massacre. Avner learns from Louis that the
CIAThe Central Intelligence Agency is a civilian intelligence agency of the United States government. It is an executive agency and reports directly to the Director of National Intelligence, responsible for providing national security intelligence assessment to senior United States policymakers...
have a deal with Salameh wherein they protect and fund him in exchange for his promise not to attack US diplomats. The squad moves to
LondonLondon is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
to track down Salameh, but they are not able to accomplish the assassination when Avner is suddenly approached by several drunken Americans. It is implied the said Americans are actually CIA agents. Avner is propositioned by a woman (
Marie-Josée Croze-Career:Croze was born in Montreal, QC. She won the award for Best Actress at the 2003 Cannes Film Festival for her performance in The Barbarian Invasions. She was cast by prominent Hollywood director Steven Spielberg for his film Munich which was released in December 2005...
) in the hotel but declines. Afterward, Carl is killed by the same woman, who Avner learns is an independent Dutch contract killer.
The film then proceeds on more dark and sombre lines. The squad is feeling the pressure of the assassinations. Robert questions the morality of the entire mission. Avner listens to him and asks him to take a break. The remaining squad tracks the Dutch assassin to the
NetherlandsThe Netherlands is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, located mainly in North-West Europe and with several islands in the Caribbean. Mainland Netherlands borders the North Sea to the north and west, Belgium to the south, and Germany to the east, and shares maritime borders...
and kill her; then Avner, Steve and Hans discuss the futility of the mission. Later, Hans is found stabbed to death and left on a park bench while Robert is killed in an explosion in his workshop. Avner and Steve finally locate Salameh in
SpainSpain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...
; however, their assassination attempt is thwarted by Salameh's guards.
At the end, Avner is dispirited and disillusioned. He flies to Israel and then to his new home in
New York CityNew York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
to reunite with his wife and their child. Avner becomes tormented with fears about his family's safety. In a fit of paranoia, he storms into the Israeli consulate and screams at an employee whom he believes to be a Mossad agent to leave him and his family alone. Ephraim comes to New York to urge Avner to rejoin Mossad.
In the final scene, Avner openly questions the basis and effectiveness of the operation, and Ephraim admits that there is not evidence linking all targets to Munich. In a show of respect Avner asks Ephraim to break bread with him, but because he has refused to return to Israel, Ephraim rejects him and leaves. Avner turns and leaves as well.
During the last scene, the camera pans across the New York City skyline and stops with the
Twin TowersThe original World Trade Center was a complex with seven buildings featuring landmark twin towers in Lower Manhattan, New York City, United States. The complex opened on April 4, 1973, and was destroyed in 2001 during the September 11 attacks. The site is currently being rebuilt with five new...
in the center of the scene. A postscript notes that 9 of the 11 men targeted by Mossad were eventually assassinated, including Salameh in 1979.
Cast
- Eric Bana
Eric Bana is an Australian film and television actor. He began his career as a comedian in the sketch comedy series Full Frontal before gaining critical recognition in the biopic Chopper...
as Avner Kaufman based on Yuval AvivJuval Aviv is an Israeli-American writer and security consultant. He may be best-known for his claim that he is the source of the 1984 book Vengeance: The True Story of an Israeli Counter-Terrorist Team by George Jonas, on which Steven Spielberg's 2005 film Munich was based...
- Daniel Craig
Daniel Wroughton Craig is an English actor. His early film roles include Elizabeth, The Power of One, A Kid in King Arthur's Court and the television episodes Sharpe's Eagle, Zorro and The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles: Daredevils of the Desert...
as Steve
- Ciarán Hinds
Ciarán Hinds is an Irish film, television and stage actor. He has built up a reputation as a versatile character actor appearing in such high profile films as Road to Perdition, The Phantom of the Opera, Munich, There Will Be Blood and Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy. His television roles include...
as Carl
- Omar Metwally
Omar Metwally is an American actor.Metwally was born in Queens, New York to an Egyptian father and a Dutch mother, and moved with the family to Orange County, California at age three where he was raised...
as Ali
- Mathieu Kassovitz
Mathieu Kassovitz is a French director, screenwriter, producer and actor, best known for his Cannes-winning drama La Haine. Kassovitz is also the founder of MNP Entreprise, a film production company....
as Robert
- Hanns Zischler as Hans
- Ayelet Zurer
Ayelet Zorer is an Israeli actress, perhaps best known for her roles in Nina’s Tragedies, Adam Resurrected, Munich, and Angels & Demons....
as Daphna Kaufman
- Geoffrey Rush
Geoffrey Roy Rush is an Australian actor and film producer. He is one of the few people who has won the "Triple Crown of Acting": an Academy Award, a Tony Award and an Emmy Award. He has won one Academy Award for acting , three British Academy Film Awards , two Golden Globe Awards and four Screen...
as Ephraim
- Gila Almagor
Gila Almagor is an Israeli actress, film star, and author.-Biography:Gila Almagor was born four months after the death of her father, Max Alexandrowitz, a Jewish immigrant from Germany who was killed by an Arab sniper while working as a policeman in Haifa...
as Avner's Mother
- Karim Saleh as Issa – Luttif Afif
- Michael Lonsdale
Michael Lonsdale , sometimes billed as Michel Lonsdale, is a French actor who has appeared in over 180 films and television shows....
as Papa
- Mathieu Amalric
Mathieu Amalric is a French actor and film director, perhaps best known internationally for his performance as the lead villain in Bond film Quantum Of Solace and for his role in The Diving Bell and the Butterfly, for which he drew critical acclaim...
as Louis
- Ziad Adwan as Kamal Adwan
- Moritz Bleibtreu
Moritz Bleibtreu is a German actor.Bleibtreu was born in Munich, the son of actors Monica Bleibtreu and Hans Brenner, and the great-grand-nephew of the actress Hedwig Bleibtreu.Bleibtreu grew up in Hamburg...
as Andreas
- Valeria Bruni Tedeschi
Valeria Bruni Tedeschi, also spelled Bruni-Tedeschi, is an Italian-French actress.-Personal life:...
as Sylvie
- Meret Becker
- Life and career :Becker was born in Bremen, the daughter of the actors Monika Hansen and Rolf Becker. She is the sister of Ben Becker, stepdaughter of Otto Sander and granddaughter of Claire Schlichting....
as Yvonne
Critical reaction
The film garnered a 78% favorable rating from critics (per
Rotten TomatoesRotten Tomatoes is a website devoted to reviews, information, and news of films—widely known as a film review aggregator. Its name derives from the cliché of audiences throwing tomatoes and other vegetables at a poor stage performance...
), though its "Top Critics" rating was lower at 61%.
Roger EbertRoger Joseph Ebert is an American film critic and screenwriter. He is the first film critic to win a Pulitzer Prize for Criticism.Ebert is known for his film review column and for the television programs Sneak Previews, At the Movies with Gene Siskel and Roger Ebert, and Siskel and Ebert and The...
praised the film, saying that "With this film (Spielberg) has dramatically opened a wider dialogue, helping to make the inarguable into the debatable." and placed it at #3 on his top ten list of 2005.
James BerardinelliJames Berardinelli is an American online film critic.-Personal life:Berardinelli was born in New Brunswick, New Jersey and spent his early childhood in Morristown, New Jersey. At the age of nine years, he relocated to the township of Cherry Hill, New Jersey...
wrote that "Munich is an eye-opener – a motion picture that asks difficult questions, presents well-developed characters, and keeps us white-knuckled throughout." He named it the best film of the year; it was the only film in 2005 which he gave four stars, and he also put it on his Top 100 Films of All Time list.
Entertainment Weekly film critic Owen Gleiberman said that
Munich was the #1 film of 2005. Rex Reed from
New York ObserverThe New York Observer is a weekly newspaper first published in New York City on September 22, 1987, by Arthur L. Carter, a very successful former investment banker with publishing interests. The Observer focuses on the city's culture, real estate, the media, politics and the entertainment and...
belongs to the group of critics who didn't like the film: "With no heart, no ideology and not much intellectual debate,
Munich is a big disappointment, and something of a bore."
Variety magazine reviewer Todd McCarthy called
Munich a "beautifully made" film. However, he criticized the film for failing to include "compelling" characters, and for its use of laborious plotting and a "flabby script." McCarthy says that the film turns into "...a lumpy and overlong morality play on a failed thriller template." To succeed, McCarthy states that Spielberg would have needed to implicate the viewer in the assassin squad leader's growing crisis of conscience and create a more "sustain(ed) intellectual interest" for the viewer.
Chicago Tribune reviewer Allison Benedikt calls
Munich a "competent thriller", but laments that as an "intellectual pursuit, it is little more than a pretty prism through which superficial Jewish guilt and generalized Palestinian nationalism" are made to "... look like the product of serious soul-searching." Benedikt states that Spielberg's treatment of the film's "dense and complicated" subject matter can be summed up as "Palestinians want a homeland, Israelis have to protect theirs." She rhetorically asks: "Do we need another handsome, well-assembled, entertaining movie to prove that we all bleed red?"
Another critique was Gabriel Schoenfeld's "Spielberg's 'Munich'" in the February 2006 issue of conservative
CommentaryCommentary is a monthly American magazine on politics, Judaism, social and cultural issues. It was founded by the American Jewish Committee in 1945. By 1960 its editor was Norman Podhoretz, a liberal at the time who moved sharply to the right in the 1970s and 1980s becoming a strong voice for the...
, who called it "pernicious". He compared the fictional film to history, asserted that Spielberg and especially Kushner felt that the Palestinian terrorists and the Mossad agents are morally equivalent and concluded: "The movie deserves an Oscar in one category only: most hypocritical film of the year."
Writing in
EmpireEmpire is a British film magazine published monthly by Bauer Consumer Media. From the first issue in July 1989, the magazine was edited by Barry McIlheney and published by Emap. Bauer purchased Emap Consumer Media in early 2008...
, Ian Nathan wrote that "
Munich is Steven Spielberg’s most difficult film. It arrives already inflamed by controversy... This is Spielberg operating at his peak — an exceptionally made, provocative and vital film for our times."
Stephen Howe in his openDemocracy review points out: "Also obviously intended to shock, and to prompt reflection, is a penultimate scene where shots of Avner making love are intercut with the climactic slaughter at Munich. It's another weary cliché: rough sex and violent death yoked together in some unthought-about, sub-Freudian way. And if, as one supposes, the Munich scenes are supposed to be running through Avner's head, we're offered no reason why he should be so haunted. He wasn't there. Those scenes weren't even on TV. Why not any of the equally vicious incidents he's witnessed, or perpetrated, himself?"
Controversies
Some reviewers have criticized
Munich for what they call the film's equating the Israeli assassins with "terrorists".
Leon WieseltierLeon Wieseltier is an American writer, critic, and magazine editor. Since 1983 he has been the literary editor of The New Republic.Wieseltier was born in Brooklyn, New York and attended the Yeshiva of Flatbush, Columbia University, Oxford University, and Harvard University, and was a member of...
wrote in
The New RepublicThe magazine has also published two articles concerning income inequality, largely criticizing conservative economists for their attempts to deny the existence or negative effect increasing income inequality is having on the United States...
, "... Worse, 'Munich' prefers a discussion of counter-terrorism to a discussion of terrorism; or it thinks that they are the same discussion".
Melman and other critics of the book and the film have said that the story's premise—that Israeli agents had second thoughts about their work—is not supported by interviews or public statements. A retired head of Israel's Shin Bet intelligence service,
Avi DichterAvi Dichter is an Israeli politician who currently serves as a member of the Knesset for Kadima. He is a former Minister of Internal Security and Shin Bet director.-Biography:...
, currently the Internal Security Minister, likened
Munich to a children's adventure story: "There is no comparison between what you see in the movie and how it works in reality," he said in an interview with
ReutersReuters is a news agency headquartered in New York City. Until 2008 the Reuters news agency formed part of a British independent company, Reuters Group plc, which was also a provider of financial market data...
. In a
Time Magazine cover story about the film on December 4, 2005, Spielberg said that the source of the film had second thoughts about his actions. "There is something about killing people at close range that is excruciating," Spielberg said. "It's bound to try a man's soul." Of the real Avner, Spielberg says, "I don’t think he will ever find peace."
The
Zionist Organization of AmericaThe Zionist Organization of America , founded in 1897, was one of the first official Zionist organizations in the United States, and, especially early in the 20th century, the primary representative of Jewish Americans to the World Zionist Organization, espousing primarily Political Zionism.Today,...
(ZOA), describing itself as "the oldest, and one of the largest, pro-Israel and Zionist organizations in the United States", called for a
boycottA boycott is an act of voluntarily abstaining from using, buying, or dealing with a person, organization, or country as an expression of protest, usually for political reasons...
of the film on December 27, 2005. The ZOA criticized the factual basis of the film, and leveled criticism at one of the screenwriters,
Tony KushnerAnthony Robert "Tony" Kushner is an American playwright and screenwriter. He received the Pulitzer Prize for Drama in 1993 for his play, Angels in America: A Gay Fantasia on National Themes, and co-authored with Eric Roth the screenplay for the 2005 film, Munich.-Life and career:Kushner was born...
, who the ZOA has described as an "Israel-hater". Criticism was also directed at the
Anti-Defamation LeagueThe Anti-Defamation League is an international non-governmental organization based in the United States. Describing itself as "the nation's premier civil rights/human relations agency", the ADL states that it "fights anti-Semitism and all forms of bigotry, defends democratic ideals and protects...
's (ADL) National Director,
Abraham FoxmanAbraham H. Foxman is the National Director of the Anti-Defamation League.-Early life:Foxman, an only son, was born in Baranovichi, just months after the USSR took the town from Poland in the Nazi-Soviet Pact and incorporated it into the BSSR. The town is now in Belarus...
for his support of the film.
David EdelsteinDavid Edelstein is the chief film critic for New York Magazine, as well as the film critic for NPR's Fresh Air and CBS Sunday Morning. He lives in Brooklyn, New York....
of
SlateSlate is a US-based English language online current affairs and culture magazine created in 1996 by former New Republic editor Michael Kinsley, initially under the ownership of Microsoft as part of MSN. On 21 December 2004 it was purchased by the Washington Post Company...
argued that "The Israeli government and many conservative and pro-Israeli commentators have lambasted the film for naiveté, for implying that governments should never retaliate. But an expression of uncertainty and disgust is not the same as one of outright denunciation. What
Munich does say is that this shortsighted tit-for-tat can produce a kind of insanity, both individual and collective."
By contrast, some critics have claimed a pro-Israeli bias in the film, including not fully presenting the harm caused by Israel's efforts at retaliation. Illano Romano, wife of an Israeli weightlifter slain in the Munich massacre, pointed out that Spielberg overlooked the
Lillehammer affairThe Lillehammer affair was the killing by Mossad agents of a Moroccan waiter, Ahmed Bouchiki, in Lillehammer, Norway on July 21, 1973. The Israeli agents had mistaken their victim for Ali Hassan Salameh, the chief of operations for Black September...
, although Spielberg seems to have been conscious of the omission; the film's opening title frame shows
Lillehammer in a montage of city names, with
Munich standing out from the rest.
Historical authenticity
Although
Munich is a work of fiction, it describes many actual events and figures from the early 1970s. On the Israeli side, Prime Minister
Golda MeirGolda Meir ; May 3, 1898 – December 8, 1978) was a teacher, kibbutznik and politician who became the fourth Prime Minister of the State of Israel....
is depicted in the film, and other military and political leaders such as Attorney General
Meir ShamgarMeir Shamgar was President of the Israeli Supreme Court from 1983 until 1995.-Biography:Shamgar was born Meir Sterenberg in the Free City of Danzig to Eliezer and Dina Sterenberg.He emigrated to Palestine in 1939.He was arrested by the British in 1944 for anti-British activity and being...
, Mossad chief
Zvi ZamirZvi Zamir born Zvicka Zarzevsky was a Major General in the Israel Defense Forces and the Director of the Mossad from 1968 to 1974. Born in Poland, Zamir immigrated with his family to the then British Mandate of Palestine when only seven months old...
and Aman chief
Aharon YarivAharon "Aharale" Rabinovich Yariv was an Israeli politician and soldier.Born in Moscow in the Soviet Union. When he was 15 he immigrated to Israel and studied at the Pardes Hanna Agricultural High School. Yariv began his military service in the Haganah and later the British Army. He then joined...
are also depicted. Spielberg tried to make the depiction of the hostage-taking and killing of the Israeli athletes historically authentic. Unlike an earlier film,
21 Hours at Munich, Spielberg's film depicts the shooting of
all the Israeli athletes, which according to the autopsies was accurate. In addition, the film uses actual news clips shot during the hostage situation.
The named members of
Black SeptemberThe Black September Organization was a Palestinian paramilitary group, founded in 1970. It was responsible for the kidnapping and murder of eleven Israeli athletes and officials, and fatal shooting of a West German policeman, during the 1972 Summer Olympics in Munich, their most publicized event...
, and their deaths, are also mostly factual.
Abdel Wael Zwaiter Wael Zwaiter was a Palestinian translator assassinated as the first target of Israel's Operation Wrath of God campaign following the 1972 Munich massacre...
, a translator at the Libyan embassy in Rome, was shot 11 times, one bullet for each of the victims of the Munich Massacre, in the lobby of his apartment 41 days after Munich. On December 8 of that year Mahmoud Hamshiri, a senior PLO figure, was killed in Paris by a bomb concealed in the table below his telephone, though the film depicts the bomb being concealed in the telephone itself, other details of the assassination (such as confirmation of the target via telephone call) are accurate. Others killed during this period include Mohammed Boudia, Basil al-Kubasi, Abad al-Chir, Zaid Muchassi, some of whose deaths are depicted in the film.
Ali Hassan SalamehAli Hassan Salameh was the chief of operations—code name Abu Hassan—for Black September, the organization responsible for the 1972 Munich massacre and other attacks. He was also the founder of Force 17...
was also a real person, and a prominent member of Black September. He was killed by car bomb in
BeirutBeirut is the capital and largest city of Lebanon, with a population ranging from 1 million to more than 2 million . Located on a peninsula at the midpoint of Lebanon's Mediterranean coastline, it serves as the country's largest and main seaport, and also forms the Beirut Metropolitan...
in 1979.
The commando raid in Beirut, known as
Operation Spring of YouthThe 1973 Israeli raid on Lebanon took place on the night of April 9 and early morning of April 10, 1973 when Israel Defense Forces special forces units attacked several Palestine Liberation Organization targets in Beirut and Sidon, Lebanon...
, also occurred. This attack included future Israeli Prime Minister
Ehud BarakEhud Barak is an Israeli politician who served as Prime Minister from 1999 until 2001. He was leader of the Labor Party until January 2011 and holds the posts of Minister of Defense and Deputy Prime Minister in Binyamin Netanyahu's government....
and
Yom Kippur WarThe Yom Kippur War, Ramadan War or October War , also known as the 1973 Arab-Israeli War and the Fourth Arab-Israeli War, was fought from October 6 to 25, 1973, between Israel and a coalition of Arab states led by Egypt and Syria...
and
Operation EntebbeOperation Entebbe was a counter-terrorist hostage-rescue mission carried out by the Special Forces of the Israel Defense Forces at Entebbe Airport in Uganda on 4 July 1976. A week earlier, on 27 June, an Air France plane with 248 passengers was hijacked by Palestinian and German terrorists and...
hero Yonatan Netanyahu, who are both portrayed by name in the film. The methods used to track down and assassinate the Black September members were much more complicated than the methods portrayed in the film; for example, the tracking of the Black September cell members was achieved by a network of Mossad agents, not an informant as depicted in the film.
Atlantic ProductionsAtlantic Productionsis a television production company creating programmes for broadcasters in the UK, USA and European Union, both commissions and co-productions...
, producers of
BAFTAThe British Academy of Film and Television Arts is a charity in the United Kingdom that hosts annual awards shows for excellence in film, television, television craft, video games and forms of animation.-Introduction:...
-nominated documentary
Munich: Mossad's RevengeMunich: Mossad's Revenge is a documentary produced by Atlantic Productions and aired on Channel 4 in Britain concerning Operation Wrath of God, the Israeli assassination campaign that was organized in response to the Munich Massacre...
, listed several discrepancies between Spielberg's film and the information it obtained from interviews with Mossad agents involved in the operation. It noted that the film suggests one group carried out almost all the assassinations, whereas in reality it was a much larger team. Mossad did not work with a mysterious French underworld figure as portrayed in the book and the film. The assassination campaign did not end because agents lost their nerve but because of the
Lillehammer affairThe Lillehammer affair was the killing by Mossad agents of a Moroccan waiter, Ahmed Bouchiki, in Lillehammer, Norway on July 21, 1973. The Israeli agents had mistaken their victim for Ali Hassan Salameh, the chief of operations for Black September...
in which an innocent Moroccan waiter was killed. This is not mentioned in the film. The targets were not all directly involved in Munich, which Spielberg only acknowledges in the last 5 minutes.
As mentioned above, the film notably ignored the
Lillehammer affairThe Lillehammer affair was the killing by Mossad agents of a Moroccan waiter, Ahmed Bouchiki, in Lillehammer, Norway on July 21, 1973. The Israeli agents had mistaken their victim for Ali Hassan Salameh, the chief of operations for Black September...
, where Israeli assassins murdered a Moroccan waiter, Ahmed Bouchiki, mistaking him for
Ali Hassan SalamehAli Hassan Salameh was the chief of operations—code name Abu Hassan—for Black September, the organization responsible for the 1972 Munich massacre and other attacks. He was also the founder of Force 17...
. As Bristol University History professor Stephen Howe says: "one major puzzle has gone almost unremarked. If... the key (and in itself laudable) impetus for the film's making was the moral questioning prompted by Israeli 'counter-terrorist' actions, why focus on these particular episodes? The film doesn't even include the most glaring and notorious failure, which was also perhaps the most indefensible act... This was the killing in Norway of a hapless and harmless Moroccan waiter, mistaken for alleged Black September boss Ali Hassan Salameh." The agents who were responsible for the killing were tried and convicted in Norway of murder. Israel compensated the victim's family although never took responsibility for the assassination.
An article on the
History News NetworkHistory News Network is a project of the Center for History and New Media at George Mason University. Although the HNN resides on GMU's server, it operates independently of the university as a non-profit corporation registered in Washington State...
gives a generally negative assessment of the historical accuracy of the film.
The film mentions the
1974 famineThe Bangladesh famine of 1974 refers to a period of mass starvation beginning in March 1974 and ending in about December of the same year. The famine is considered the worst in recent years; it was characterised by massive flooding along the Brahmaputra river as well as high...
of
BangladeshBangladesh , officially the People's Republic of Bangladesh is a sovereign state located in South Asia. It is bordered by India on all sides except for a small border with Burma to the far southeast and by the Bay of Bengal to the south...
as a reference of the time-line of the film's events. After the Mossad team reaches
LondonLondon is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
, Steve insists Hans to eat something rather than just drinking, as Avner had prepared a table full of dishes for the team to have dinner. At this part Steve adds
there is enough food to feed Bangladesh here.
Won
- 4th Central Ohio Film Critics Association Awards:
- 40th Kansas City Films Critics Circle Awards
The 40th Loutzenhiser Awards, honoring the best in film for 2005, were announced on 3 January 2006.-Winners:*Best Actor:**Philip Seymour Hoffman – Capote*Best Actress:**Reese Witherspoon – Walk the Line*Best Animated Film:...
:
- Best Director (Steven Spielberg)
- Best Picture
- Best Screenplay – Adapted (Tony Kushner and Eric Roth)
- 4th Washington D.C. Area Film Critics Association Awards
The 4th Washington D.C. Area Film Critics Association Awards, honoring the best in filmmaking in 2005, were given on 12 December 2005.-Winners:*Best Actor:**Philip Seymour Hoffman - Capote*Best Actress:**Reese Witherspoon - Walk the Line...
:
- Best Director (Steven Spielberg)
- Best Picture
Nominated
- 78th Academy Awards
The 78th Academy Awards honored the best films of 2005 and were held on March 5, 2006, at the Kodak Theatre in Hollywood, California. They were hosted by The Daily Show host Jon Stewart, with Tom Kane making his first appearance as the show's announcer...
:
- Best Director (Steven Spielberg)
- Best Editing (Michael Kahn)
- Best Original Score (John Williams)
- Best Picture (Kathleen Kennedy, Steven Spielberg, Barry Mandel and Colin Wilson)
- Best Screenplay – Adapted (Tony Kushner and Eric Roth)
- 56th American Cinema Editors Eddie Awards:
- Best Edited Feature Film – Dramatic (Michael Kahn)
- Australian Film Institute
The Australian Film Institute was founded in 1958 as a non-profit organisation devoted to developing an active film culture in Australia and fostering engagement between the general public and the Australian film industry...
:
- 11th BFCA Critics' Choice Awards
The 11th Critics' Choice Awards are given on January 9, 2006 to honor the finest achievements in 2005 filmmaking.-Top 10 Films:#Brokeback Mountain#Capote#Cinderella Man#The Constant Gardener...
:
- Best Director (Steven Spielberg)
- 58th Directors Guild of America Awards
The 58th Directors Guild of America Awards, given on January 28, 2006, honored the best film and television directors in 2005.-Film:Best Director - Motion PictureAng Lee - Brokeback Mountain*George Clooney - Good Night, and Good Luck....
:
- Best Director (Steven Spielberg)
- Empire Awards
An Empire Award is an accolade bestowed by Empire, Britain's biggest selling film magazine, to recognize excellence of professionals in the locale and global film industry. The awards are voted for by readers of the magazine and in an annual ceremony, the Empire Awards, the winners are presented...
:
- 63rd Golden Globe Awards
----Picture - Drama: Brokeback Mountain ----Picture - Musical or Comedy: Walk the Line ----TV Series - Drama: Lost ----TV Series - Musical or Comedy: Desperate Housewives ----Miniseries or TV Movie: Empire Falls ...
:
- Best Director (Steven Spielberg)
- Best Screenplay (Tony Kushner and Eric Roth)
- 7th Golden Trailer Awards:
- 48th Grammy Awards:
- Best Score Soundtrack Album for Motion Picture, Television or Other Visual Media (John Williams)
- 2006 MPSE Golden Reel Awards:
- Sound Editing in Feature Film – Dialogue and Automated Dialogue Replacement
- 9th Online Film Critics Society Awards
The 9th Online Film Critics Society Awards, honoring the best in film for 2005, were given on 16 January 2006.-Best Picture:A History of Violence*Brokeback Mountain*Crash*Good Night, and Good Luck.*Munich-Best Director:...
:
- Best Director (Steven Spielberg)
- Best Editing (Michael Kahn)
- Best Screenplay – Adapted (Tony Kushner and Eric Roth)
- Best Picture
- Best Original Score (John Williams)
- 4th Washington D.C. Area Film Critics Association Awards
The 4th Washington D.C. Area Film Critics Association Awards, honoring the best in filmmaking in 2005, were given on 12 December 2005.-Winners:*Best Actor:**Philip Seymour Hoffman - Capote*Best Actress:**Reese Witherspoon - Walk the Line...
:
- Best Screenplay (Tony Kushner and Eric Roth)
- Best Supporting Actor (Geoffrey Rush)
- 6th World Soundtrack Awards
The 6th World Soundtrack Awards were given on 14 October 2006 in Ghent, Belgium.-Winners:*Soundtrack Composer of the Year:**Alberto Iglesias for The Constant Gardener*Best Original Soundtrack of the Year:...
:
- Best Original Soundtrack (John Williams)
See also
- Munich massacre
The Munich massacre is an informal name for events that occurred during the 1972 Summer Olympics in Munich, Bavaria in southern West Germany, when members of the Israeli Olympic team were taken hostage and eventually killed by the Palestinian group Black September. Members of Black September...
- Black September
The Black September Organization was a Palestinian paramilitary group, founded in 1970. It was responsible for the kidnapping and murder of eleven Israeli athletes and officials, and fatal shooting of a West German policeman, during the 1972 Summer Olympics in Munich, their most publicized event...
- Palestinian political violence
Palestinian political violence refers to acts of violence undertaken to further the Palestinian cause. These political objectives include self-determination in and sovereignty over Palestine, the liberation of Palestine and establishment of a Palestinian state, either in place of both Israel and...
- Operation Wrath of God
Operation Wrath of God ,This title was an invention of later writers, and was most likely not used by the Mossad itself. also called Operation Bayonet, was a covert operation directed by Israel and the Mossad to assassinate individuals alleged to have been directly or indirectly involved in the...
- Sword of Gideon
Sword of Gideon is a 1986 television film about Mossad agents hunting down terrorists associated with the 1972 Munich massacre. It was first shown on the CTV network in Canada as a four hour miniseries and later on the HBO television network. Directed by Michael Anderson and written by Chris...
Further reading
- Richard Girling "A Thirst for Vengeance: The Real Story behind Munich". The Sunday Times
The Sunday Times is a Sunday broadsheet newspaper, distributed in the United Kingdom. The Sunday Times is published by Times Newspapers Ltd, a subsidiary of News International, which is in turn owned by News Corporation. Times Newspapers also owns The Times, but the two papers were founded...
. January 15, 2006
External links
- "Spielberg takes on terror", Time Magazine, 12 December 2005.
- "The Lessons of Munich", A discussion of the film from Foreign Policy Magazine
- "Spielberg's Munich Pact", Editorial critical of the movie from "Frontpage.com" (conservative website).
- Review by The Spectator, January 14 2006
- PopMatters review (12/2005)
- A delicate balance: Showing both sides of the '72 Olympic massacre is Spielberg's big challenge – Newsday.com review
- "Munich" not what conservatives say, a positive review of the film from Israeli commentator Alan D. Abbey on "Ynetnews.com".
- "Movie-2-DVD Special: Spielberg's Munich", Historical background and location info.
- The Israeli Response to the 1972 Munich Massacre – Includes an extensive overview of the Munich Massacre and the aftermath, including an in-depth analysis of the Mossad "counter-terrorist" operations described in George Jonas' book Vengeance: The True Story of an Israeli Counter-Terrorist Team, the primary source for the events portrayed in the movie.
- NPR's Fresh Air interview, Pulitzer prize-winning playwright Tony Kushner co-wrote the screenplay for the new Stephen Spielberg film Munich.
- NPR's All Things Considered interview, 'Striking Back' Look at Munich Killings, Aftermath
- The Hunt For Black September, an article from ICG Magazine about the cinematographer Janusz Kaminski and his contribution to the movie.
- Munich, Mentoring & Moviolas an interview with Michael Kahn, film editor in "Munich".
- Photographing "Munich" by Karen Ballard, on-set photographer for "Munich"
- IMDB link to Oscar winning documentary "One Day in September" on the Munich massacre