1. Munich (2005)
Who said that the films on this list had to be about the clandestine operations of only Western powers? Steven Spielberg's Munich is a somber moving and violent story of the aftermath of the Munich Olympics Massacre in 1972. Knowing that the murder of 11 Israeli athletes were orchestrated by the Palestinian Liberation group Black September, Israeli Intelligence Agency Mossad sets out to kill all those involved. Avner - Eric Bana in his best role - is assigned to head a team with that goal, but he is no assassin - he is actually a technician, but ironically Mossad wants just that to lead a death-squad (he will only kill the assigned targets, no collateral hits). As Avner and his crew, including a pre-bond Daniel Craig, go down the list of targets their consciences begin to weigh heavily on them. Serious moral issues are discussed amongst the crew, not unlike the discussion on the hypocrisy of sending an entire unit to save one man in Saving Private Ryan. Bana perfectly portrays how the mission is starting to weigh on his very soul. After getting one member of Black September another takes his place, and escalation mounts as Avner continues his psychological descent. It is rare that these questions are brought up in an espionage thriller, what good is really being done because of these operations? How does one's soul survive the process? When does it all end? Uneasy questions and even more unsettling answers make this the best Spielberg film since Saving Private Ryan and one of the best in the genre. Most of the ten on this list deal with governments being too paranoid about peacetime to enjoy it. In the end the people they were mandated to protect wind-up as the enemy. It is a cruel irony, that sometimes keeping the peace is indeed harder than raging war. So now that you've read my list of ten, we want to hear yours. Please leave any comments and critiques below...