R | 1h 31m | Thriller | Dec. 13, 2024
“September 5” recreates the 1972 Munich Olympics, where Israeli athletes were taken hostage inside the Olympic Village by a group called Black September, consisting of Palestinian terrorists from refugee camps in Lebanon, Syria, and Jordan. The movie chronicles how the ABC Sports crew broadcasted the unfolding situation.
Watched by hundreds of millions of people as it happened on live television, “September 5” demonstrates just how little those transmitting the information actually knew, and how they needed to rely on creativity and instinct to determine what could shown and reported without absolute confirmation.
‘September 5’
It’s shift-change time for the ABC crew covering the Olympics. Roone Arledge (Peter Sarsgaard) is headed back to his hotel and insists on not getting any calls before 10 a.m. He promised his daughters he'd spend time with them.
Geoffrey Mason (John Magaro) is doing his first broadcast, backed by Marvin Bader (Ben Chaplin) and German interpreter Marianne Gebhardt (Leonie Benesch). As opposed to the above-mentioned films, “September 5” resides purely in the moment; showing only what its characters know. The control room and its immediate surroundings are the film’s only settings.
As they prepare to go live with the day’s games, the crew members hear gunshots in the distance without knowing what they are. As developments unfold from their vantage points on the ground, they soon figure out they have unexpected and exclusive access to the hostage situation emerging in the Olympic village. These reporters have the potential to transmit whatever they choose to the whole world.
Thriller Material
This is a gripping, fully involving thriller featuring a variety of ethical debates, such as whether to have world-famous Olympic anchorman Jim McKay label the Black September operatives “terrorists.” Also up for heated discussion is whether cameramen should cut away if they happened to capture people being executed.
There’s a certain callousness to the discussions that crops up at times. It reflects a jaded-journalist, get-the-story-at-all-costs mentality. However, the unemotional tunnel vision is also revealed to be the realistic coping mechanism and behavior of people not far enough removed from horrifying circumstances.
Cast
Rather than casting an actor to play him, the film uses archival footage of television sports journalist and Olympic anchorman fixture Jim McKay (McKay covered the 1960, 1964, 1968, 1972, 1976, and 2002 Olympics). This directorial choice is similar to the treatment of Senator Joe McCarthy in “Good Night, and Good Luck,” and it allows the rest of the performances to shine.
Magaro carries most of the film’s weight as Mason, who struggles to stay one step ahead of what’s happening, with no clue as to where or when things may go down—on very little sleep. Chaplin is sympathetic as the film’s heart, and Benesch is likewise sympathetic as a younger-generation German carrying the shame and the weight of the sins of the Fathers on her slight shoulders.
“September 5” has Oscar potential unless Hollywood would prefer to avoid a film dealing with Israel, given the current Middle East climate. Magaro and Sarsgaard both have a shot.
This is a heartfelt and emotional watch that honors the memories of the September 5 victims, as well as respectfully and effectively interrogating the actions of the news crew who helped the entire world bear witness to it.
