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Munich [DVD] [2005]
 
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Munich [DVD] [2005]

DVD ~ Geoffrey Rush
3.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (56 customer reviews)

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Munich [DVD] [2005]
49% buy
Munich [DVD] [2005] 4.5 out of 5 stars (10)
£4.97
Munich [DVD] [2005]
43% buy the item featured on this page:
Munich [DVD] [2005] 3.8 out of 5 stars (56)
One Day In September [DVD] [1999]
2% buy
One Day In September [DVD] [1999] 5.0 out of 5 stars (5)
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Munich [DVD] [2006] [Region 1] [US Import] [NTSC]
2% buy
Munich [DVD] [2006] [Region 1] [US Import] [NTSC] 4.0 out of 5 stars (2)
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Product details

  • Actors: Geoffrey Rush, Ciaran Hinds, Mathieu Kassovitz, Hanns Zischler, Michael Lonsdale
  • Format: Anamorphic, PAL, Dolby, Digital Sound, Surround Sound
  • Language English
  • Subtitles: Arabic, Icelandic
  • Region: Region 2 (This DVD may not be viewable outside Europe. Read more about DVD formats.)
  • Aspect Ratio: 2.35:1
  • Number of discs: 1
  • Classification: 15
  • Studio: Universal Pictures Video
  • DVD Release Date: 12 Jun 2006
  • Run Time: 157 minutes
  • Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (56 customer reviews)
  • ASIN: B000EF5SZI
  • Amazon.co.uk Sales Rank: 9,859 in DVD (See Bestsellers in DVD)

    Popular in this category:

    #73 in  DVD > Drama > Historical

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Reviews

Amazon.co.uk Review

Munich is a film with no easy answers, and plenty of uncomfortable moments. It also finds Steven Spielberg on masterly form behind the camera, telling a relentlessly serious and unsettling story with the gravitas it absolutely requires.

Set immediately after the murder of nine Israeli athletes at the 1972 Munich Olympics (an event that’s brutally re-enacted), the film is supposedly a fictionalised account based on true events of what happened next. Namely, the Israelis ordering together a secret team--led by Eric Bana’s Avner--to take out those they considered responsible.

Only it’s not that easy. It doesn’t take long for the film to start blurring the moral debate. Is what Avner and his team are doing that different from the original assassins? Can he reconcile the brutality of his actions? And what happens when the programme of retaliation doesn’t go quite to plan?

By turns, Munich is a brutal, gripping and important film. It’s not always easy to penetrate, and it really demands some good old-fashioned concentration to fully appreciate it. Yet it’s superb filmmaking, and an engrossing piece of cinema. Oscar may have snubbed it, but you’d be wise not to make the same mistake.--Jon Foster



Synopsis

A thought-provoking surprise from famed director Steven Spielberg, MUNICH explores the after effects of the brutal terrorist attacks on the Israeli athletic team at that German city's 1972 Olympic Games. Loosely adapted from the book VENGEANCE by Hungarian George Jonas, the script was largely written by the provocative, award-winning playwright Tony Kushner (ANGELS IN AMERICA), who lends an incisive intelligence to the dialogue. The film begins with the violent sequence of the terrorists carrying out their attacks on the Israelis; a bloody and gruesome sequence that is deftly and beautifully handled by Spielberg and his brilliant cinematographer, Januzs Kaminski. Back in Israel, we meet the handsome and charming Avner, deeply in love with his beautiful, pregnant wife. Domestic bliss is short-lived however; immediately following these Black September attacks, Avner (THE HULK's Eric Bana), the son of an Israeli hero, is summoned by his country's famed secret service agency, the Mossad, to carry out violent retaliations against those Palestinian terrorists allegedly behind the Munich massacre. Commanded from afar by prickly government agent Ephraim (the inimitable Geoffrey Rush), Avner and his team of handpicked men pugnacious South African Steve (Daniel Craig), goofy ex-toy maker Robert (French actor Matthieu Kassovitz), morally conflicted Carl (Ciaran Hinds), and terse professional Hans (Hanns Zischler) must deal with some shady, nefarious international figures as they track down their Palestinian prey. Their mission takes them everywhere, from the villas of Rome to a seedy hotel in Cyprus, and with each successful kill, Avner's iron will begins to dissolve, and guilt and doubt begin to take hold of his conscience. Strong performances (particularly by the magnetic Eric Bana), gripping action, moral complexity, and a political urgency make the film not only consistently entertaining, but enormously important. Kushner and Spielberg work together to make it clear that the past informs the present, and the lingering final shot should leave viewers with much to think about.

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Customer Reviews

56 Reviews
5 star:
 (23)
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 (14)
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 (10)
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 (5)
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 (4)
 
 
 
 
 
Average Customer Review
3.8 out of 5 stars (56 customer reviews)
 
 
 
 
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32 of 37 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars Confucius was right, 25 April 2006
By Tim Bentley (Shetland, UK) - See all my reviews
(TOP 500 REVIEWER)   
When Confucius wrote "before you embark on a journey of revenge, first dig two graves" I wonder if he'd seen the script to Munich. Trite I know, but in this most recent of Steven Spielberg's offerings, the old Chinese proverb rings true. In this marvellously crafted tale we see a fictionalised account of the aftermath of the murder of eleven Israeli atheletes during the 1972 Munich Olympics. We see the response - Mossad sending a message to Black September. Avner (Eric Bana) hunts the surviving terrorists and Black September instigators of the atrocity, and along with his team suffers the consequences of the revenge message.

The production was located, propped and costumed magnificently - I truly believed that I was looking at the seventies, and it was so consistent across international locations.

If I had a criticism, it would be that the movie is too long, but that is just a personal opinion from someone who can't sit still for that amount of time. The DVD will mitigate this somewhat as I could at least hit pause and take a comfort break.

An excellent movie, not necessarily telling the tale like it actually happened, but thought provoking and replete with fine performances.
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31 of 37 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars "You're ordinary, ''You're not a Sabra Charles Bronson.", 13 May 2006
By M. J Leonard "MikeonAlpha" (Silver Lake, Los Angeles, CA United States) - See all my reviews
(TOP 50 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   
It's thought provoking, it's balanced and director Stephen Spielberg doesn't waste anytime getting to the heart of the issues or the action. Munich works on a number of levels as an audacious political statement, a tense thriller, and an inspiringly brutal look at two peoples forever caught up in a cycle of violence, constantly drowning in a sea of their own blood.

It's a bleak vision and Spielberg carries it off beautifully, providing us with a clipped and tight back-story, where the Palestinian terrorists invade the Olympic village in Munich, killing two members of the Israeli team and taking another nine as hostages.

The Israeli response is swift and fast with Prime Minister Golda Meir (Lynn Cohen) authorizing a top-secret assassination campaign which will carried out by the security agency Mossad, aimed at wiping out those who had planned the attack. It is left to the hunky Mossad agent Avner (Eric Bana) to emotionally and strategically shoulder most of the burden.

The team is a seemingly innocuous and innocent mix. Daniel Craig's Steve is the group's impulsive hard-liner, a strapping Israeli itching for reprisal, often clashing with Ciaran Hinds' Carl, the cleanup man. There's a sweet-faced bomb expert named Robert (Mathieu Kassovitz), and a thoughtful muscleman (Hanns Zischler).

As Avner cooks dinner, they all get to know one another, hashing out the fine details and the boarder implications for themselves and for the Jewish state. And so the methodological killing begins, yet as Munich progresses, what remains of certainty vanishes, replaced by a thousand conflicting agendas.

This is a world where the rule of the law is superfluous and where allegiances are none, the only constants are mistrust, paranoia, and the need to find more names, which inevitably comes at a price. No one is ever who they are, a drunk on the corner may be CIA, or KGB or the seductress at the hotel bar might be a hit woman.

Spielberg wisely avoids any soapbox speeches, but he does allow his characters to present both sides of the argument: At a safe house in Athens, Avner is confronted with a young Arab who tells him if the desperate need for a Palestinian homeland, a place they can call their own. And back in Israel, Avner's mother tells him that Israel is their land, finally they have a home and they will fight to keep it.

In Munich the themes are universal - the moral imperatives of violence, and in what circumstances can one justify such senseless murder. As Avner and his colleagues continue their operation, they become psychologically immune to it all. Yes - the operation may be successfully carried out, but how long will it be before righteous anger - the anger of the Israelis - can be continued before stumbling into bloody-mindedness? The irony is that in demonizing these Palestinian terrorists, they are themselves acquiring similar gruesome aspects.

It's all about the cycle of violence, a common problem that has plagued the Middle East for generations and will probably continue to do so. Munich deftly shows that everyone has their reasons for hating the other side - whether it is religious intolerance, or the fight over land rights - everyone ultimately thinks they're right, but such a stalemate can never be broken by killing people whatever side of the fence you are on. Mike Leonard May 06.
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13 of 15 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars Dark and Disturbing, 14 Nov 2006
Strong performances by the entire cast and I think casting Eric Bana as the main character was pure genius. Just looking at the external character without even looking on the inside it is sad to watch something so beautiful become so distorted and ugly. A dark, disturbing story about a time that I was to young to remember. I never want to see this film again as I found it so harrowing. War is an ugly business but when fuelled by revenge it destroys so many lives that you begin to question whether it is worth it; using religion to support your behaviour is sad and disturbing, which I feel is the lesson here: an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth will only leave this us eyeless and toothless. I would ask everyone to see this film because despite its dark historical story it is very applicable to the times we live in today.
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