MUNICH (2005). In Steven Spielberg's Saving Private Ryan, an ancient soldier recalls Omaha Beach in grisly detail; the problem is, he wasn't there. In Spielberg's Munich, the kidnapping and massacre of 11 Israeli athletes by Black September during the 1972 Olympics unfolds with harrowing precision in the recurring nightmares of someone who saw it only on TV. Avner (Eric Bana), a marginal Mossad agent, watches the broadcast of the siege's botched and bloody conclusion. Then he's put in charge of "Wrath of God" and given the names of those believed to be responsible for the massacre. He has no experience in such matters; neither do the men assigned to him, a motley band including South African Steve (Daniel Craig), German Hans (Hanns Zischler), Belgian Robert (Mathieu Kassovitz) and spectral veteran Carl (Ciar.n Hinds). But they quickly lose their innocence, gunning down a Palestinian poet in Rome and blowing up an academic in Paris. Based on George Jonas's 1986 book Vengeance, a much disputed account of a disaffected Mossad agent's participation in the retribution campaign, Munich has the guts to deal with realities. But Spielberg can't help reducing them to simplistic sentimentality. (160m)

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