BUTCHER'S HANDS, GENTLE SOULS

I made my usual holiday trip to the movies today, to take in Steven Spielberg's MUNICH, the last of this year's Best Pictures nominees that I had yet to see. I went a bit reluctantly, I guess mainly because I didn't know if I was up for yet ANOTHER bleak commentary about the state of the world. But I am so glad I did go, for many reasons, but maybe mainly because this film really made me think about the long legacy of hate between peoples and countries. It's very easy (and perhaps appropriate) to think about 9/11 as the defining terrorist event of this generation, but the sad fact is that the violence we see manifested throughout the world today is just another species of the same hatred that has been driving people to kill each other senselessly for generations.

The story of this rag-tag group of assassins succeeds so well, I think, in large part due to the extremely smart choice of casting Eric Bana (another brilliant Australian) as the center of the ring. This was the first time I have seen Eric on screen, and I found him totally compelling. He has a soft, almost baby face, with sweet eyes, but his on-screen physical presence is massive and hulking. The audience sees in his character, Avner, a man caught up in an ideological war who doesn't really have time to stop and think about the consequences of his actions, but whose conscience is constantly struggling to overpower the deadening effects of endless violence and killing. I think Bana achieves something quite remarkable in making Avner so sympathetic.

There were a few Spielbergian touches I could have done without, but over-all, the film was tense, brisk and suspenseful, and I was totally engaged throughout. This is one of those films that is extremely tough to watch in parts, but it rewards its audience with an intelligent and complicated view of the role of terrorism in the world, something I think we can all do with trying a little harder to understand.