Does the end justify the means?

One of the more recent movies I’ve seen in the theatre is Munich, which was directed by Steven Spielberg. I don’t know how many of you have heard of it, for the studio intentionally decided not to over-market it, like most movies, due to the more sensitive and serious tone.

In case this film is under your radar, it’s about the Israeli response to the massacre of 11 Israeli athletes that took place during the1972 Olympics in Munich. The culprits were a Palestinian organization called Black September. The movie, based upon real events, details the government-sanctioned, yet not officially recognized, mission to assassinate the 11 individuals determined to have played a role in planning the attack.

Some of the initial concern, before the movie was released, was how Spielberg, who is Jewish, would approach the story. Quite frankly, I was somewhat surprised with his tactic in asking whether the five members of the assassination team were, in fact, becoming terrorists themselves? Even the team began to wonder if peace could ever be achieved through violence, for as soon as one person was killed, one that was even nastier immediately replaced him.

While I thought he raised a good and very valid point, I didn't have a problem with what they were doing, especially in light of 9/11 and having no objection with going after Osama Bin Laden and dropping a bomb if he we know where he is. I even wondered, during the movie, if we would have had more success if we sent in a small Black Ops team to go in quietly and take their time to collect reliable information, instead of a good chunk of our Army into the terrain of Afghanistan and splashing it all across the front page of the newspaper.

Is it “terrorism” if the enemy is killed outright versus bringing him/her to trial? What do you think?

On the movie note, I thought it was just okay and would give it a B-. I loved the first hour and then it started to drag and go off on these side missions that was a little distracting and off-target. Then, there was the most awkward scene of all with the main character having sex interspersed with the actual killings of the athletes. Creepy. Since Entertainment Weekly also mentioned it in their review, I don’t feel bad doing so either. Eric Bana was great as Avner and it was nice to get a preview of the new James Bond, Daniel Craig, as one of the team members. I will admit that this is one I might have to see again, to see if I might like it better the second time around.