So says Avner (Eric Bana) in Steven Spielberg's Munich, a drama about the Israeli government's response to the murder of Israeli athletes by Black September at the Munich Olympics. Israel's Prime Minister, Golda Meir, authorizes the assassination of the 11 individuals responsible for Munich and Avner is tasked with leading the team of assassins. Avner's team includes Steve (current 007 Daniel Craig) who is the muscle; Carl (Ciarán Hinds) who removes evidence after every kill; Robert (Mathieu Kassovitz), the bomb-maker; and Hans (Hanns Zischler) who forges documents for the team. Receiving evidence through a shadowy, apolitical organization headed by Papa (Michael Lonsdale), Avner's team methodically tracks down the men on their list and assassinate them using explosive devices. Events thicken, of course, as the team is in turn hunted, and some of them begin to question the efficacy and morality of what they are doing.
Written by Tony Kushner and Eric Roth (from the book Vengeance by George Jonas), Munich is an argument that violent reprisals accomplish nothing save further violent reprisals, leading to the unrelenting spiral of sickening violence present in the Middle East, and rotting the moral core of us all. It's an argument that should be self-evident to all, but is obviously not, and Munich makes its case forcefully and unflinchingly. This is easily Spielberg's most violent film, showing the awful consequences of violent acts, and a couple of scenes are quite horrifying (as they should be). The film falters a little in depicting Avner's descent into turmoil and doubt, whether due to the writing or the performance by Eric Bana or some combination I'm not sure, but it is masterfully shot and cut. This is one of the few spy thrillers that, unlike say the Bourne films, feels steeped in the capricious, messy reality of actual intelligence actions.
In the end, we're left to wonder what has been accomplished, other than the replacement of dead targets with men who are even worse and further reprisals against diplomats and civilians. The film's conclusion includes a haunting shot of the World Trade Centre.
"All this blood will come back to us."
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