Munich

The movie Munich is a tragedy story of a true event, and the following events afterward. It follows four men in their search to seek out the terrorist of the Munich tragedy and kill them. This movie uses low-key lighting, noise contrasting, shadows, and an intriguing plot as you become wrapped up in the suspense. The story however is a period piece, as described in the book The Art of Film Watching as “a film that takes place not in the present but in some earlier period of history” (pg. 106). Although this event did not occur that long ago in time, the style’s were different, the building, and even language. This movie does a great job through dialect, costumes, makeup and stage setting of preserving the time period to be representative of the time era.

Most of the movies settings occur during the nighttime for that is their usual plan of attack occurrence. Because of this, the film scenes are often dark, with lots of shadows, and contrasts. As described in the books as “the nature of the story and the shooting location have a significant effect on the contribution of the lighting to the look of the film.” (pg. 114) This darkness and shadows help enhance the suspense of the quest to hunt down the terrorists. You become involved in the hunt as well as the film is shot in an objective point of view. You never know who will be behind the next corner of the alley ways or dark streets, and the darkness contributes to the limited visibility as if it were happening in real life. One scene that really gets to you is when the go to Beirut which is a Palestinian territory, the must be assisted because they are Jewish. The go with their backups to this place where supposedly three terrorists are living. It becomes a big shoot out in the dark, as several more people are involved.

As you follow the four men and their quest for the terrorists you feel a sense of rhythm as the characters all become so familiar with each other and execute every motion so perfectly with one another. Although you never know what is going to happen next there is always this sense of rhythm throughout. This parallels to the book as it states: “the continuous and simultaneous interplay of image, sound and motion on the screen sets up varied, complex and subtle rhythms”. (pg. 126) One scene that sticks out in my mind is that of the first terrorist they plan on attacking. The first scene shows the man setting up the explosive in the phone. The second part to it is when the girl comes back up the room and answers the phone. The man at the bottom finds out that the girl is on the phone and he as well as the main character Avner run to the car to warn the other two men not to set off the explosive for it is not the terrorist who answered the phone but his daughter the young girl. All of the motions seem tense and keep you at the edge of your seat but there is rhythm to everything that they do.

Although this movie is a extremely well developed, it can be hard at times to understand what is going on and how they relate. There is some background information I feel that is necessary to know before watching this film. You know it deals with the country of Israel and conflict between the Palestinian and Israelite nations quest for peace, however it can be hard to understand who the Mossad are, or even the conflict at hand without some background information. After watching the movie I did some more research and the events become more lucid to me, as well as the situation and the plot. I would highly recommend this to anyone, as it not only portrays an important part of history in an entertaining way, it does so in a suspenseful, artistic way.



Boggs, Joseph, & Petrie, Dennis. (2008). The Art of watching films. New York, NY: McGraw-Hill College.