Alpacino owned the 70`s, diversified in the 80`s and continues to be one of the most versatile character actors in movies today. Scarface by comparison was a low key reworking of the 1932 Howard Hawke’s classic, an atypical gangster movie in terms of its political statements about Castro’s Cuba and the futility and the hypocrisy of the drug war. Scarface is about a Cuban refugee who builds a powerful cocaine empire through a ruthless reign of ultra violence and business savvy. Tony Montana (Alpacino) believes that “….first you get the money, then you get the power and then you get the women…) Montana’s partner in crime an old friend from Havana called Manny Ribera (Steven Bauer) and together they fight their way out of a refugee camp, take out rival dealers and eventually whack the bosses to become the main men in down town Miami. Tony is a man so obsessed with the American dream that he doe not realize that it had consumed him in every way possible. For Alpacino the role was an opportunity to explore a crime boss in the polar opposite Michael Corleone in Coppolas “Godfather”, Corleone is slick and smooth, intelligent and strategic while Montana is instinctive, impulsive and reckless. The Godfather part II was made in 1972, “Scarface” in 1983. Scarface shows a man who want the world and at one point even sees the world is yours blinking at him from the good year blimp. Pacinos maniac performance as a coke fuelled killer is one of the finest I have ever seen, whilst Michele Pfeiffer does some excellent acting as his hopelessly addicted wife, Elvira. Her laconic style and way in which she conveys the soulless nature of their marriage shows how good an actress can be.

 

As boss every time we see Tony Montana he is a bit better off. Better clothes, better means of transportation .He visits his mother at her small little home in Miami to show off his fortune, how he has made it big in America. He tries to give her money but she says that it is people like him who give a bad name to the hard working Cuban (like herself) who have come to America and legitimately for a living. But Tony’s sister Gina (Mary Elizabeth) does not think so. She adores her brother and accepts the money as a present. It back fires, soon Gina is hanging out in the fancy clubs and getting felt by men.

Tony sees this and anger light up on his eyes like a fire. This happens twice in the movie, both times are in regards to his sister. Manny explains to Gina that she is the only thing pure left in his life. The film shows  Tony rising to an inevitable gangland supreme ,while he makes friends with some of the most powerful and corrupt people in the world for a while and its massage is more than apparent .Crime can pay ,but eventually so you will. This film is a masterpiece brilliantly directed with stunning cinematography, great action and a soundtrack which, although lo-fy and simple does the job of making one feel unsettled. It has a cracking script and a great story.

Munich

A breath taking movie directed by Steven Spielberg .This is the story of what happened next in 1972 after eleven Israeli athletes were murdered at the Munich Olympics .It is the story of the Black September aftermath. In 1972 Palestinian terrorists invaded the Olympic village in Munich, Germany. In this movie we see them kill two members of the Israeli team and hold nine for hostages. Then a botched rescue attempt turned into a blood bath in which all nine were killed. Israel decides to pay back shortly after the botched rescue attempt and stunning loss of lives. A secret squad of Israeli Moss ad agents is assigned to assassinate the Palestinians believed to have masterminded what ultimately becomes a blood massacre. This true political thriller is least commercial, most somberly heartfelt movie made by cinema.

 

Avner (Eric Bana)   is the field operative selected to head up the risky operation in this inspired by real events movie. A neat ,durable man and son of a war hero .Avner  commands a team of bomb expects ,clean up man ,document forger and a wheel man with an investment in revenge. In this movie the picture revisits the unspeakable incident repeatedly, sometimes as actual footage and other times as reenactments of what may have gone on inside the athletes’ rooms or on the airport runway where everything fell apart.

 

In between assassinations, the Moss ad squad sits around as if they were having lunch. They complain and engage in discussions about the nature of revenge. They must show the world that they are strong .As Avner is leading this group of revenge seekers; It is through him that we experience all of the emotions of the story as the men travels to London, Paris Athens and Beirut to eliminate the names they take on faith as the architects of the Munich massacre. Munich illustrates how Avners moral compass is knocked askew. In the beginning he doe not question the righteous of his actions because when it comes to the first, he hesitates and it falls to one of his confederates to fire the shot. Killing soon becomes easier and more of a routine, learning where the next target is, devising a plan, then executing it. On one o occasion – perhaps the most tense and masterful scene in the film – a little girl answers an explosives –packed phone that is intended as a lethal trap for her father. And on another occasion, Avner ends up within the blasts radius of one of his bombs.

 

The violence is graphic and movie director Spielberg takes pains to present both sides of the issue, the theme of the movie. To proffer the Palestinians perspective, he provides a rational terrorist who engages in intellectual debate with Avner about how the Palestinians have resorted to the only methods left to them and how they are willing to wait generations to achieve their aims. Munich is a complicated movie that weaves through many political, social, ethical issues that are refreshingly unbiased