Film Review: September 5

September 5th, 1972. The Olympic Games are happening over in Munich, Germany and one of the worst things to happen unfortunately happens. A group of terrorists take the Israeli team hostage with the demands of releasing hundreds of Palestinian prisoners in their home country. History has shown how the events unfolded but the film September 5 reveals the chain of events through the eyes of the media, or more specifically the ABC Sports crew. This tragic event has been documented before for the big screen with the Steven Spielberg film Munich, so you’re probably wondering why we need another film about this tragedy. The media had a very important role to play in the events as they documented everything in real-time, this was in an age before mobile phones and live streams were a thing and the result changed the way news was reported forever.

The ABC Sports team consisted of Roone Arledge, the president of ABC Sports, Geoffrey Mason, the head of the control room in Munich, Marvin Bader, the head of operation at ABC Sports and Marianne Gebhardt, who was the translator for the crew as she spoke both German and Hebrew. Peter Sarsgaard, John Magaro, Ben Chaplin and Leonie Benesch play those roles respectively. The whole film feels methodical and precise. The team, machinery, camera-work and everything else involved at ABC Sports feel of the era and feels completely authentic to the period. You do feel transported to this world that has been re-created meticulously. The result is an immersive, gripping thriller with heart-pounding moments and a script so sharp you will feel every word cut across the screen.

September 5 documents everything that happened on the day almost in real-time. From the sound of distant gunshots to the scrambling of sources to corroborate the events happening, everything has that sense of urgency and importance. The seriousness of the whole day weighs over all the actors and each one gives a truly fantastic performance that makes you believe you were there too. The scariest part of the film is that almost holds a mirror to present day. Conflicts are still escalating all over the world in a lot of countries that news media companies document almost 24/7. The systematic approach to dealing with these modern events were more or less designed and blueprinted thanks to the Munich massacre. The way everyone handled the breaking news of the hostage crisis had repercussions across the world. Millions of people were tuned in and glued to the television, hoping for a successful outcome which unfortunately didn’t happen.

The latter half of the film is like a rollercoaster ride of emotions. From signs of hope to the impending sadness. Every beat is felt as the team scurry around attempting to make sense of what is happening. Hasty decisions are made leading to mistakes and fallbacks. The tension is felt with every second that passes as the media team attempt to inform the world the facts even if they don’t know everything themselves. Despite all this the film holds its ground throughout and you can’t help but feel everything they felt on the day. The acting, writing, editing and everything else brings everything together for the final moments of the day, for something better left to experience than to explain.

★★★★★

5/5

Final Verdict:

September 5 almost acts as a modern day commentary on politics and warfare. The key aspects of modern day reporting of terror attacks all stem from this pivotal and vital moment in recent history. The Munich massacre is a tragedy that no-one will forget and having it documented on two big films now further cements the day as one that changed the world as we know it. The direction, the script and the performances are some of the many highlights this film does at telling the story as it happened. True stories never felt as important or as relevant as this one. September 5 is a film that reminds us the importance of television media and why we rely on the people behind-the-scenes to deliver us these stories.

Thanks for reading today’s blog!

Alex Murray, the Head of Eyesight Productions