After 11 Israeli athletes were kidnapped and killed by Palestinian terrorists at the 1972 Olympics in Munich, the Israeli government secretly recruited a hit squad from its Mossad intelligence agency and mandated the death of the Black September operatives responsible for the bloodshed. This state-sponsored retribution campaign -- rumored for years but only recently detailed in such books as George Jonas’s Vengeance -- forms the basis of Steven Spielberg’s masterful Munich, a grimly compelling fact-based drama that’s something of an epic thriller. Eric Bana portrays Avner, the young, newly married Mossad agent who leaves his pregnant wife to head the team -- a job he undertakes, at great personal risk, because he believes (initially, at least) that the murders of his countrymen must be avenged. The other four members of his team include: Daniel Craig as tough guy Steve; Mathieu Kassovitz as explosives specialist Robert; Hanns Zischler as forgery master Hans; and, best of all, that versatile character actor Ciaran Hinds as the meticulous organizer Carl. Adopting a much grittier visual style than usual, Spielberg films the key events of this lengthy campaign as a documentarian might, frequently employing handheld cameras and shooting with natural light whenever possible. Moreover, he bends over backward to be evenhanded, turning a gimlet eye on the Israeli government run by Golda Meir. This stance aroused considerable controversy, but Spielberg wasn’t looking to score points with Palestinians and their supporters; he was trying to make a larger point. It becomes apparent in the movie’s second half, when the revenge plot unravels and the assassins become targets themselves. Bana’s character, weary of the killing on both sides, begins to wonder if his side has lost the moral high ground. Spielberg intimates that the never-ending cycle of violence, of attack and retaliation, further exacerbates the Middle East problem and makes peace more difficult, if not impossible, to achieve. Easily among the master director’s most provocative films, Munich earned five Academy Award nominations, including nods for Best Picture, Best Director, and Best Score (the work of John Williams).