netflixed "munich", which was about the post-terrorism situation at the olympic games at munich, specifically how israel sent a secret team to assasinate those responsible for the attack, AKA operation wrath of god. i really knew nothing of this film prior to watching it other than it being a spielberg production. i didn't even know it was about post-olympics rather than the attack during the olympics. at first the film seemed messy and i just couldn't really get a sense of what was going on (i knew more from reading the description on the disc's envelope!). i thought it might be another long, boring moving. that may have been just the first 30 minutes. after that, the film picked up and became an interesting piece, probably more due to causing me to think about terrorism, spies, counter-intelligence, etc. rather than the wham-bam explosives and killings. what i really wasn't expecting from the film was the hint of "are we the ones in the wrong" when the main character was incognito and debating with one of the terrorists. their conversation addressed and made me ponder on just basic things like what defines terrorism and is violence the best means to resolve conflict. is the person who strikes first to blame even if another antagonized them to the point of madness? i mean, just think about all the siblings who terrorized each other growing up and then all the cries of "but he started it!" when they would get punished by their parents. (parents are the united nations?)

i never really had an interest in the bigger picture of global relations. my interests have been primarily with microscopic global relations, of building bridges through one-on-one meetings of people from other cultures, such as student exchanges and personal travel. international business relations rarely cracks into mind. what i think shifted my brain into such wavelengths was that "munich" focused in on a central character and attempted to show some personal conflicts that those involved in such matters might go through. that it isn't just about the men, so to speak, but that women and children are also affected by such things. it may be cheesy but "terrorists" and "anti-terrorists" have families too. plus, there is the personal conflict that one goes through when one takes a life, no matter what the reason. perhaps "munich" does not concentrate on the mistakes of the operation and even omits a well known killing of an uninvolved person due to mistaken identity. however, the film's merit is that it lights the spark of debate and this is far more important than the shortcomings of the film.