James Berardinelli review - ***1/2 out of ****
https://www.reelviews.net/reelviews/september-5
The 1972 Olympics, the first to be held in Germany since the infamous 1936 “Olympia” edition was presided over by Hitler in Berlin, was intended to be an opportunity for the country (in this case, West Germany) to show how much had changed since the war and how it was now a kinder, more inclusive nation. For roughly nine days, things seemed to be going according to plan. Then came the events of September 5 which forever scarred the ’72 games. Although some athletes and their records would be remembered (particularly those of American swimmer Mark Spitz and Soviet gymnast Olga Korbut), the “Munich Massacre” overshadowed everything.share
Numerous movies (both TV and theatrical) have been made about September 5, 1972, including the Oscar-winning 1999 documentary One Day in September and Steven Spielberg’s Munich, which was as much about the aftermath as the event. Tim Fehlbaum’s September 5 finds a new angle for this story, thereby justifying its existence and putting it near the top of the group of motion pictures inspired by the Munich Massacre. By combining archival footage with period-accurate recreations, the director tells the story from the perspective of the ABC sports team that became the West’s primary outlet for information about the terrorist attack.
The film works equally well as a thriller and a docudrama. The historically verifiable aspects are accurate and the behind-the-scenes sequences are based on the recollections of the men and women who were there. The screenplay is spartan and all-the-better for it; Fehlbaum doesn’t incorporate melodramatic side-stories to add sentiment and increase the running time. 93 minutes is the perfect length. September 5 is not too short and not too long. And, although it provides character sketches of the principals, it doesn’t feel the need to go into their home lives or backstories. We see them as they are in the moment, and that’s enough.
Fehlbaum’s approach to September 5 is not dissimilar to the one employed by director Jason Reitman in Saturday Night. Both films go behind-the-scenes of live television broadcasts. Both employ a “you-are-there” style. Both feature a strong-willed figure in the center of the maelstrom. And both rely on handheld shots to emphasize the immediacy of the experience. It’s coincidental (or not) that both films transpire in the early ‘70s – September 5 in 1972 and Saturday Night in 1975. There must be something about the gonzo approach to live television from that era that has captured the attention of filmmakers a generation or two removed. (Fehlbaum wasn’t yet born on the day this movie is set.)
As the day starts, things are progressing as normal. Sports director Roone Arledge (Peter Sarsgaard) and producer Marvin Bader (Ben Chaplin) are taking back seats, allowing the unproven Geoffrey Mason (John Magaro) an opportunity to get some experience. He meets the German translator, Marianne Gebhardt (Leonie Benesch), and banters with some of the others in the control room. Then, shots ring out from the nearby Olympic Village. Soon after, reports start coming in of deaths and hostages. Newsman Peter Jennings (Benjamin Walker) grabs a cameraman and heads over. Arledge is informed and comes in. And, as the situation evolves outside, a power struggle develops within ABC as to whether the sports division (which is on-site) or the news division (which is based in New York) should be in control.
Anyone with a modicum of historical perspective knows how this ends yet Fehlbaum, both in the manner he shoots the film and the way it has been edited, keeps the level of tension surprisingly high. The ending may be a foregone conclusion but there are unexpected beats along the way and we become more invested in how the television participants adapt and react to the changing circumstances than in the fate of the nine Israeli hostages and their Black September captors. In the end, September 5 is less about the crisis than one television network’s attempts to provide live global coverage of a major news event – the first time this was done (and the template for many similar things that happened in the future).