Munich: The Trap of Counter-Terrorism
Munich
Very select events in history have the magnitude to capture the attention of the entire world. In 1972, during the Summer Olympics, held in Munich, West Germany, the world’s attention was unequivocally captured. Eight men associated with a Palestinian terrorist organization, Black September, took hostage of eleven members of the Israeli Olympic team. Munich, the 2005 Academy Award nominated film, directed by Steven Spielberg, is a critique on Israel’s counter-terrorist actions, after the Munich Massacre.
Munich chronicles the lives of a group of Israeli assassins who are assigned to track down and kill 11 Palestinians believed to be architects of the Munich Massacre. The beginning portion of the movie details the events that take place at the Olympic Village, and how the hostages are killed. The second half of the movie depicts the human toll it takes to carry out the counter-terrorist acts, and the eventual outcome for the terrorist organization and Israeli government.
The underlying source of the movie and Black September’s actions arises out of the Israel and Palestine conflict. The clash arises between two sets of people, the Jewish Israelis and Arab Palestinians. Both sets of people are fighting over sovereignty of the land occupied in a portion of the Middle East. Each group claims to have control over the land based on history, religion, culture, and ethnicity. The state of Israel gained sovereignty over most of the land by defeating Arab armies in two major wars: The 1948 Arab-Israeli War and the 1967 Six Day War. Over the years, there have been numerous peace talks, troop removals, and other methods of ending the conflict. None have maintained stable peace in the region.
The presence of a Jewish Israeli team was very important because precisely 27 years earlier World War II and the Holocaust had ended. Being there symbolized the resilience of the Jewish people. On September 5, 1972, men wearing track jackets and carrying duffle bags, with guns and explosives, entered the Olympic village. They broke into the Israeli team’s apartment, killing two members of the team, and taking hostage of nine. When officials arrived, Black September demanded the release of 234 Palestinians and non-Arabs jailed in Israel, along with two German prisoners who were founders of the Red Army Faction. For nearly a day, the police and terrorist negotiated, to no avail. Finally, the hostages and terrorist were transported to an airfield, where they would be sent to a NATO airbase. At the airfield, German police officers created a plan to rescue the hostages. In an aborted rescue mission, the rest of the hostages and five of the eight terrorists were killed. The remaining terrorists were put in jail, until a Lufthansa plane was hijacked, and the German government was forced to release them.
Steven Spielberg has been awarded numerous awards and nominations for his direction of Munich. However, the film has also been attacked by several different organizations. Both, Israelis and Palestinians, have accused the movie of being factually incorrect. The Zionist Organization of America, self pro claimed “the oldest, and one of the largest, pro-Israel/Zionist organizations in the United States”, called for a boycott of the movie. One of their criticisms was that “Spielberg attempts to humanize the Palestinian Arab killers by legitimizing their murder of Jews as their only way to establish a Palestinian state.” Other political activists also criticized the movie. Leon Wieseltier of The New Republic wrote, “…Worse, ‘Munich’ prefers a discussion of counter-terrorism to a discussion of terrorism; or it thinks that they are the same discussion” The criticism against Munich is erroneously misguided. The focus of the movie is aimed only towards Israeli use of counter-terrorism to combat terrorism. Nothing in the movie suggests that terrorism and counter-terrorism are the same thing. However, it does advocate a futile nature of certain retaliatory actions. In the final scenes of the movie, Avner, the main character questions his case worker, Ephraim, about the purpose of their actions. “Did we kill to replace Terrorist leadership or Palestinian leadership? Everybody we killed has been replaced by worse,” Avner says. “Why do I cut my fingernails if they’ll grow back,” responds Ephraim. Told from an Israeli perspective, the movie has a slight biased. Nevertheless, it does not take a stance on who is right or wrong. The point of focusing on counter-terrorism seems to portray one overarching theme; violence begets more violence.
Stylistically, Munich tries to be as realistic of the events as possible. During the opening scenes of the movie, an Israeli wrestler is shot in the cheek, and then forced to lead Black September to the rest of the team. Graphically the scene looked very real: the blood, character expressions, and gruesomeness. Historically, it is also factual that a member of the Israeli team was shot in the cheek and forced to locate the rest of his teammates. The story, best classified as a human drama, is very compelling, because of how the movie is photographed. The lighting for Munich was chosen very carefully to convey two points: everyday life and the seriousness of the situation. Compared to a love movie, like Love Actually, the lighting is extremely dark. Even on a sunny day, the sun is not illuminating the surroundings or brightening the characters face. It gives an impression that behind every corner there might be more danger. As the story progresses the lighting becomes darker. While the Israeli assassins continue to kill Black September agents and the stress begins to mount, the lighting changes. Avner’s face during the beginning of the film is clean-shaven and clear. During the final scenes, his beard is very rough and the lighting is much darker. Munich is very beautiful, in an everyday perspective. The lighting, outfits, and the language all resemble “normal” life. That familiarity allows the viewers to focus entirely on storyline, and contemplate the actions taken by Israel.
Films based on politically charged subjects, are often hard to portray accurately. Munich attempts, successfully in my opinion, to give a balanced perspective to an issue that goes back hundreds of years. Terrorism is a form of violence that is taking over conventional methods of warfare. Counter-terrorism is becoming the standard form of retaliation. Munich shows how counter-terrorism tends to lead to more terrorism. If nations are to ever stop violence, they must learn that more violence only causes hatred. Not less violence.
