Munich

A thinking man’s action movie is a tagline that wouldn’t do Munich justice. If movies could take personality tests, it would be a choleric/melancholic.

The movie develops in a linear path, give and take the requisite flashbacks to that fateful terrorist attack. It’s a very straightforward movie. No arty pretense to it – typically Spielberg. But its beauty lies in the encapsulation of the inner workings of the characters’ minds.

The passions of both sides are disconcerting for me. They place such immense value on “having a home on earth”. The people are willing to kill and destroy lives just for a few “stone huts and olive trees”. But it does make me wonder why I just don’t care. I simply don’t. Is the apathy a young Singaporean’s failing? Or is it just me? Or maybe it would take a catastrophe or an earth-shaking event to move my patriotism. We don’t have much history behind us. The Israelis had thousands of years of bondage and oppression behind them. The Palestinians have history compounded with indignation. Maybe their history is more tied to their land… their sense of belonging is entrenched in the soil of their forefathers. But we are a migrant people. And are these my excuses?

All the blood that is spilt does not achieve any concrete effect. It merely sends a message, as was admitted by the terrorists in the movie. No one attack can do much in the greater scheme of things. Right after key players are eradicated, new angrier ones arise in their place. Poignantly, this brought a sense of hopelessness and futility in the midst of all that faith and belief. In the end, Eric Bana’s character doesn’t come out of the situation determined and victorious. He becomes destroyed…

Probably one of the best movies I've seen in some time...