Director: Tim Fehlbaum
Writers: Moritz Binder, Alex David, Tim Fehlbaum
Stars: Peter Sarsgaard, John Magaro, Ben Chaplin
Synopsis: During the 1972 Munich Olympics, an American sports broadcasting crew finds itself thrust into covering the hostage crisis involving Israeli athletes.
The events that occurred during the Munich Olympics in 1972 have been told multiple times, most notably in the Oscar-winning documentary One Day In September and in Steven Spielberg’s Munich. Black September, the infamous Palestinian terrorist group that formed in the aftermath of the Six-Day War, broke into the Olympic Village apartments where the Israelis were staying and took 11 hostages. The end result was tragic: the police’s bungled attempt to ambush the terrorists resulted in the deaths of all the hostages. Fifty-two years later and some of the worst moments of the Israel-Palestine conflict currently going on, the events of that day are very relevant and, just like last year’s The Zone of Interest, September 5 is a reminder of what is going on now.
What makes this film distinguishable is that the entire events are told from the perspective of ABC Sports led by executive Roone Arledge (Peter Sarsgaard) who simply completes the schedule for their sporting coverage the day before. What begins with a crew tired after the previous day’s events led by American swimmer Mark Spitz winning 7 gold medals turns quickly on its head when they hear distant gunshots from the Olympic Village not far from where they are. Quickly, Geoff (John Magaro), a producer in to cover other sports happening that morning, scrambles to get everyone up to speed with Marvin (Ben Chaplin), the head of operations, and their translator Marianne (Leonie Benesch), trying to get information first.
As night turns to day, the studio uses every trick they have such as sneaking one of the assistants into the village by dressing him up as an athlete living there to film as close as he can towards ground zero of the attack. This is decades before the advent of social media. Roone fights for the satellite control with CBS – the rival studios took turns on timeslots covering the Olympics – Marianne runs inside and out and translates every word coming from German police and media while fighting for respect from her colleagues, and Geoff works to fend off ABC news for full control on their side even though they are just for sports. Suddenly, you finally see the camera tighten up on everyone with every second passing as day becomes night and the climax moves away from them to the airport.
The film edits itself tirelessly between the archival footage, such as the shots of a mask-cladded terrorist on the balcony, and the studio as they work fast to cut between cameras with their footage outside and in-studio where lead anchor Jim McKay (only archive) is giving the up-to-date news. The sound design is also flawless with the overlapping voices, sounds with the controls, and radio announcements, whether it be German radio or Peter Jennings (Benjamin Walker) relaying from outside what is happening. It is terrifying to watch as they see these shocking images from their own well-placed cameras and then to realize that the terrorists are watching their feed since it’s also in the Olympic Village. TV journalistic ethics come into major question with what Roone and Geoff want to broadcast, especially when accosted by Munich police brandishing semi-automatics at the crew.
Co-writer/director Tim Fehlbaum (Hell) is perfect in telling this very compelling, heart-pounding drama of the first terrorist event happening live worldwide. (The post-script says 900 million people saw it on TV.) The whole ensemble syncs perfectly to every turn in the story with Magaro and Benesch being the standouts. September 5 succeeds beyond expectations as a docudrama that holds on to viewers and will never let go as the hours tick on by to its tragic conclusion. Leaving the theater will have the same realization as with The Zone of Interest: nothing has changed in this conflict many, many decades later on with the Middle East.
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