Munich
This week we are reviewing Munich, the 2005 thriller directed by Steven Spielberg and written by Tony Kushner and Eric Roth, starring Eric Bana as Avner Kaufman — a Mossad agent chosen to lead a five-man team tasked with hunting down the eleven men responsible for planning the 1972 Munich Olympic massacre.
Daniel Craig, Geoffrey Rush and Mathieu Kassovitz round out a cast in one of Spielberg's most morally complex and politically courageous films.
This is a heavier episode than most. Both hosts are Jewish, and they say so up front. This is a film about Jewish revenge for Jewish deaths, and they are going to try to be fair. They mostly manage it.
The episode opens with the Scotsman offering something approaching an apology for his behaviour during the Oceans 11 episode — not a full apology, he makes clear, just an acknowledgement that he was, in his own words, a bit manic. The Aussie accepts this with more grace than the Scotsman deserves.
Then Munich. And the conversation that follows is one of the most serious and genuinely moving the podcast has produced. The Scotsman walks through both sides of the argument with real care — the Israeli case for Operation Wrath of God, the Palestinian context in which Black September emerged, what the film gets right, what it omits, and why Spielberg was attacked by both sides simultaneously and responded by saying he was not interested in making a political argument. He was interested in making a human one.
The moment that stops the episode cold is Golda Meir's line — delivered quietly, with the weight of someone who has just heard something she cannot unhear. "I normally speak about peace. But today I listen with new ears. The world needs to know you cannot do this. This decision is solely on me." The Aussie says it is the best line in the film. He is not wrong.
They debate the Daniel Craig line — "the only blood that counts is Jewish blood" — and both hosts reject it immediately. That rejection leads into one of the most honest conversations the podcast has had about antisemitism in Australia right now, armed guards at every Jewish school, the Bondi attack in December 2025, October 7, and what it actually feels like to live as a Jewish person in this country today. It is uncomfortable. It is important. It earns its place.
Eric Bana's performance gets enormous credit — Spielberg called it the finest he had directed since Liam Neeson in Schindler's List. The safe house scene, where an Israeli agent and a Palestinian operative share a stairwell and a conversation, is singled out as one of the great scenes in the film. The final intercutting of the sex scene with the massacre flashbacks is described as unforgettable and haunting.
The Aussie's son Oliver also sent through his written analysis of the film — read out in full — and it is genuinely excellent.
Rohan Reminisces takes us back to 1972 — the French Connection winning Best Picture, Gene Hackman taking Best Actor, the Godfather, American Pie, Watergate, Gough Whitlam, and the introduction of the CT scan.
Ratings: 4.4 from the Aussie, 3.95 from the Scotsman. The Scotsman closes with a stiff whiskey. It feels right.
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