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He's talking about Israel in the wake of 1972's Palestinian terror attack that resulted in the deaths of eleven Israeli Olympians. A team of covert agents is out to kill the eleven men responsible for planning those attacks. The mission seemed like a gesture of righteous anger at first. But the violence is taking a heavy toll on him and his teammates. Bodies are piling up on both sides. Has he lost his innocence? He pleads with the team leader, "That's my soul. If I lose that, I lose everything."

The questions at the heart of this film echo those that drive David Cronenberg's A History of Violence and Michael Haneke's Caché. Is it possible for a man to carry out violence and remain blameless? What is he to do if his loved ones are victims? Retaliate? Or refuse to employ the same tactics as their enemies? How can peace be achieved when the enemy refuses to put down their arms? And what provoked such hatred in the first place?

Munich, which may be Steven Spielberg's most challenging film, brings up all of those questions—and more, all of them relevant in the world today, as the U.S. wrestles with its future in Iraq, and as Israel and Palestine careen between promising gestures and exchanging painful blows.

It's a soul-searching film that offers no easy answers. My full review is at Looking Closer.

Steven Isaac (Plugged In) has some trouble with Spielberg's method. He writes that the director "drives home the point that if you sink to the depraved and despicable level of your enemies, you gradually become them. And he points out that violence can prompt further violence. … Spielberg specializes in revealing how horrific war is, but he rarely hints at how necessary it sometimes is. Munichdoesn't much aid the debate over whether Avner and his team have sunk to an unacceptable level. Rather, the film intentionally muddies it." Isaac also notes "huge doses of sexualized violence" which serve "titillation, not enlightenment. Obscenity, not observation. And shock, not entertainment."

But Kenneth R. Morefield (Christian Spotlight) says, "Munichis a skillfully made, emotionally earnest examination of an important subject. Because of that, and because of its pedigree, people will think it is both better and worse than it actually is. I want to be upfront about its strengths, since my concerns about its limitations don't mean that I think this is anything less than a high caliber film."

After a close examination, he concludes by comparing Spielberg's sentiments with those of another famous entertainer—Shakespeare. "Henry V ends up declaring that no man can take moral responsibility for another: every man's duty is the king's, but every man's conscience is his own. Munich? It proposes that mortgaging your conscience to make and preserve a home may not morally bankrupt you, but it is still a heavy price to pay."

"Munich is both timely and timeless as it deals with issues of violence and revenge," says Darrel Manson (Hollywood Jesus). "It doesn't attempt to give any easy answers. It does make us ask questions though—not only in a theoretical sense, but also to apply those questions to the world and nation in which we live. Munichwill certainly be toward the top of my favorites list this year."

Cliff Vaughn (Ethics Daily) says, "Beyond terrorism and killing, beyond ideology and doubt, the thought that homehas a price makes Municha worthy entry in the master storyteller's oeuvre. Not since E.T. more than 20 years ago has Spielberg so tapped a basic desire for his cinematic exploration."

Mainstream critics are debating the film's merits, but most rate it as one of the year's best.

Josh Hurst (Reveal) says of Steven Spielberg's latest, "It's not his first Big, Important Movie, but it's unquestionably his finest—a work of art that transcends polemics and platitudes, shooting from the hip and asking questions that it can't always answer. It's just the kind of movie we need more of right now."

But the editors of World team up to offer a dissenting opinion: "No one's right. No one's wrong. Can't we all just get along? It's disheartening to realize that the most serious work in recent years (or, perhaps, ever) of one of the world's most talented filmmakers can be reduced to such a bland aphorism."

Denny Wayman and Hal Conklin (Cinema in Focus) say, "This documentation of the journey into the hellish depths of vengeance is masterfully done and is one of the most powerful moral messages on film. Munichis a significant film which many may avoid due to its violence, and for understandable reasons, yet it is nevertheless a message needed in our terrorist-plagued and vengeance-ridden world."

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