September 5
At only 94 minutes, September 5 is a surprisingly short and concise look back at the events of the terrorist attack at the 1972 Munich Olympics through the lens of the ABC Sports team who were on the ground and on the air when the incident occurred putting them at the forefront of the coverage. Director Tim Fehlbaum's film stays with our newsmen covering their actions and perspectives as events unfold in real time, fighting to stay on the air and keep the coverage, and not providing the audience any information not uncovered by the team.
Our key characters are the talented but green director Geoffrey Mason (John Magaro) running the coverage from the control room nearly in line-of-sight where the hostage situation unfolds, Roone Arledge (Peter Sarsgaard) in command of the sports coverage fighting to keep ABC Sports in control of the story lest the news team or another network swoop in and keeping an eye on Geoffrey to make sure he doesn't get in over his head, and Marianne Gebhardt (Leonie Benesch) as a local translator who finds herself thrown into a much larger role once the sports coverage is overtaken by a much larger news story.
Using quite a bit of archival footage and some impressive production design to recreate the 70s studio, September 5 captures a unique situation when the definition of a sports story became something far different than what anyone could have imagined. It also has the dubious honor of being the first time an act of terrorism was broadcast live. The result is a tense period film that also is quite interesting as a character piece in those stepping outside their roles and a look back at how sports journalism looked a half-century ago. And, for those nostalgic for a simpler time, there's a bit of a time capsule feel towards the film given how networks shared satellites and far more limited coverage of the Olympics than what is seen today.
Watch the trailer- Title: September 5
- IMDb: link
