The events of the 1972 Munich Olympics hostage crisis changed the world in so many ways, ushering in the age of terrorism foremost among them. But behind the scenes of the terror and the politics were the sports television broadcasters who found themselves in the middle of an unexpected crisis and they were totally unprepared for. The movie September 5 tells that side of the story and tells it well.
Two things stand out beyond the excellent acting and well crafted script that make the film worth a watch. Director Tim Fehlbaum does a great job of capturing the chaos and the tension in the ABC control room and its environs as his cast hustles and bustles from moment to moment and emotion to emotion. Fehlbaum also skillfully weaves historical ABC footage of the coverage into the action he’s filming in his current day mise-en-scene. That choice alone was an excellent one and sets the filmmaking apart.
The film is also a terrific nostalgic view on what seems like the now ancient technology that television broadcasts used in that era. Watching how logos and titles are created to superimpose over images is quite a treat.
Certainly audiences of my generation will be familiar with how big a moment this was, but I’m sure there are younger generations experiencing the story for the first time. They couldn’t have a better primer than this film.
The end of the tragedy is well known, but the telling of it in this newsroom procedural gives it an entirely new life as we see producers and directors making choices in the moment, realizing how their actions are breaking new ground, potentially fraught with peril, and how their audiences will witness the event they are covering and what it means going forward.
September 5 is currently streaming on Paramount+ and available via video on demand from most services.
You can watch the trailer below.
You can find more of my writings on a variety of topics on Medium at this link, including in the publications Ellemeno and Rome. I can also be found on social media under my name as above.
Life on the Wicked Stage: Act 3 