..Gary Dretzka
..Noah Forrest
..Leonard Klady
..R.J. Matson
..David Poland
..Douglas Pratt
..Ray Pride
..Michael Wilmington

Munich
Directed by Stephen Spielberg
Dreamworks/Universal

SPEAKING OF OSCAR, Munich is the hot buzz title of this year. And the truth is, the film deserves a second viewing before I really settle in on my opinion. More so, it needs more than the couple of hours it's been since I saw the movie. But here goes a first impression…

The title of this film should have remained "Vengeance," because that really is what the film is about. From all sides of the experience, how does the pursuit, achievement and the reflection upon vengeance affect those involved?

Fears from pro-Israel folks are completely unfounded, though undoubtedly, someone will find some reason to complain. That someone will be a braying jackass. There is one speech from a Palestinian about how he perceives the conflict with Israel, but it is really about his perception and not a direct attack on Israel, even if he believes in the end of Israel. Moreover, there is a lot of Jew love in this movie. The discussion of honor being inherent to the Jewish religion is repeated a few times.

But most importantly, the film really isn't so much about Munich. The murders at the Olympics are the match that lights the fire. But once the team of assassins gets together, they are doing a job, person by person, and the morals and lessons of the film are about something greater than the one tragedy. Bana's Avner is through the looking glass, endlessly surprised by everything he doesn't really know or understand and desperately trying to figure it all out.

It's way too early to be discussing too many details of the storyline. But I will say this much…

There isn't a bad performance in the movie. Bana is a standout, and really holds back until the third act, which is when he starts reflecting and dealing with his actions. That's the act that will get him the Oscar nomination. Geoffrey Rush is perfect in his role as a government handler, though he probably doesn't have enough big speeches to get more than love and admiration. Daniel Craig, Hanns Zichler, Cieran Hinds, and Mattheiu Kassovitz are all tremendous in support of Bana. None of the other team members probably have enough of a role to score an Awards nomination… maybe Craig.

But Michael Lonsdale is the home run supporting performance here, though it is a near-cameo. The delicious irony of the man who chased The Jackal more than 30 years ago still being in and around the spy game is wonderful. (No, it's not part of the movie... but Spielberg is more than movie savvy enough to have intended the connection.) But more so, Lonsdale scores with every line he reads. It reminds me more than a little of the well-loved cameo by Lois Smith in Minority Report.

Janusz Kaminski does his usual brilliant understated job with the camera and lights here, delivering the 70s with aplomb. Few will really see how sophisticated his work is here. But it is a treat. It is the least Spielberg of Spielberg movies, so no rack focus… no big camera moves. Just tight and clear work from start to finish… you never see the seams.

Also unSpielberg-like is the amount of sex in the film. Most of it is between husband and wife. But it can be pretty untense. And Marie-Josee Croze is more than an eyeful in her brief appearance.

Really, much like Match Point and Woody Allen, you would not know this was a Steven Spielberg movie if you didn't see his name on it. He really gives up his style crutches for the cleanest telling of this story. And as a result, it really has the feeling of early 70s film, particularly The Conversation, The Day of the Jackal, and even a bit of The Godfather.

For me, the theme of this film is the dehumanizing nature of violence over time. No matter how well founded - in your mind or in reality - the "right" to kill is, in order to maintain focus on the effort, one must dehumanize both their target and themselves. There are other big issues on the table, such as being inevitably revisited by your sins, the question of whether violence can ever improve a political or moral situation, and whether the politics of governments can ever clear enough to be trusted. But much like The Thin Red Line, Munich speaks to the need to subsume your humanity in order to do your duty when your duty calls for more than humane action.

And maybe that is a controversial idea. It will be interesting to see how people interpret the last lines of the film… and even more so, the last shot which includes the World Trade Center towers in a blurry, but perfectly visible background. (Have I mentioned before that The New World ends with the acorn not falling far from the tree… literally?)

Munich is not quite, at least on first blush, the unstoppable Oscar powerhouse that I first thought it might be. Spielberg has given up too many of his manipulative tricks for that to be the case here. But it is still the likely winner of this year's Best Picture Oscar, in my opinion. It is serious. It is excellent. And it is about something important beyond its own storytelling parameters. Brokeback Mountain will have its supporters, but I don't see it overcoming this film, which speaks to bigger issues, though the issues in Brokeback are extremely important to its constituency.

I am really interested to see how this movie sits with me in the days to come. I suspect that it will open up further. I hope to see it again soon and to connect both to its receiving simplicity and its depth of emotion and insights.

- David Poland