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October 31, 2024There are moments in history best remembered for how they were communicated and preserved. The unfolding of the 1972 Munich Olympics massacre is one such event that was watched by hundreds of millions of people as it happened on live television. Tim Fehlbaum’s film September 5 recreates the ABC control room during that fateful day, demonstrating just how little those transmitting information out to the entire world actually knew and how they had to rely on instinct and creativity to determine what they could show and what they could report without absolute confirmation.
It’s time for a shift change for the ABC crew covering the Olympics. Roone Arledge (Peter Sarsgaard) is headed back to his hotel, having promised his daughters he won’t get any calls before 10am. Geoffrey Mason (John Magaro) is doing his first broadcast, with Marvin Bader (Ben Chaplin) and German interpreter Marianne Gebhardt (Leonie Benesch) with him. As they prepare to go live with the day’s games, they hear gunshots and discover in real time the hostage situation emerging in the Olympic village that they have unexpected and exclusive access to with the potential to share it with the whole world.
The real-life events of this film may be known to audiences who have seen the Oscar-winning documentary One Day in September or Steven Spielberg’s Munich, which follows the retaliatory operation conducted by Israel to track down the perpetrators. But this film lives only in the moment of what its characters know, with crew members hearing the gunshots in a distance first without knowing what they were and watching as developments unfolded from their vantage points on the ground. The control room and its immediate vicinity are this film’s only settings, giving its characters limited knowledge but the power to transit whatever they want to anyone who’s watching.
The experience of this gripping and fully involving thriller will be more difficult for some audiences, particularly those distraught by the current situation that finds Israeli civilians held hostage and hoping desperately for a different outcome than the tragedy portrayed in this film. There certainly is discussion of sensitive topics in this film, like the decision to have anchor Jim McKay call the operatives of Black September terrorists and whether they would choose to cut away if their cameras caught someone being executed. Bader’s Jewishness and the chronological and geographical proximity to the Holocaust are deeply felt even in the film’s opening moments, and there is a sense of dread the fills the room when the Israeli athletes are identified as the target of this hostage-taking operation.
The focus here is on the decisions made by people used to broadcasting sports content who happened to be in the right place at the right time for the unfolding of a very newsworthy event. There is certainly something callous about some conversations and remarks that don’t speak to the seriousness – and life-or-death nature – of the situation, but they’re also realistic coping mechanisms and reflect the way people behave when they’re not at a sufficient distance from something horrific. The style of Fehlbaum’s second feature is reminiscent of United 93, displaying reverence for what it’s documenting and dramatizing it in a straightforward but still deeply compelling way.
The cast in turn is universally strong, with Magaro carrying much of the weight of the film as Mason struggles to stay one step ahead of what’s happening without any knowledge of where or when it might occur. Sarsgaard brings a bravado and overconfidence to Arledge that makes his onscreen confrontations and defense of his questionable convictions immensely watchable. Chaplin draws on Bader’s heart and internal conflicts, while Benesch humanizes someone who, above all, wants Germany to atone for its all-too-recent sins. The decision to use archive footage of McKay rather than cast someone to play him feels, like Joseph McCarthy in Good Night, and Good Luck, a productive choice that allows the other performances to shine. This is a deeply heartfelt and emotional watch that honors the memories of the victims of that day and respectfully and effectively interrogates the actions of those who helped the entire world witness it.
Movie Rating: 9/10
Awards Buzz: This film could likely appeal to Oscar voters unless they want to avoid a film that deals in any way with Israel – though the content here shouldn’t be controversial. All its actors competing in the supporting races could get crowded, but Magaro and Sarsgaard both have a solid shot. Otherwise, film editing is likely its best chance at Oscar attention.