September 5

By: Jamie Steinberg

September 5, 1972 is a day that will forever send shivers down our spines. At the Summer Munich Olympics Games gunmen from the Palestinian militant group Black September have infiltrated the village and murdered two members of the Israeli soccer team. They have also taken nine others hostage. Upon hearing the gunshots, we follow the ABC news crew through to the final update. Unsure of how to initially proceed with coverage, the film September 5 provides viewers an insight into the moral concerns the reporters and broadcasters felt in bringing this incident to our television screens.

After hearing the gunshots ring through the Olympic Village of Munich a mere feet away from their headquarters network executive Roone Arledge (Peter Sarsgaard) insists that the ABC Sports team on site handle coverage. Famed correspondent Peter Jennings (Benjamin Walker) doesn’t have a camera available and must give his news updates on the situation by phone call like past radio reporters. However, the real focus of the film is on ABC News Producer Geoffrey Mason (John Magaro). It’s his job to navigate and mediate between the demands of Arledge and the big bosses and rival news teams back in the United States. His decisions could mean life or death for those in Munich and those at home watching on their televisions.

Magaro’s performance is absolutely moving as you feel his fear at having to make such tough decisions. Mason sort of becomes the moral and spiritual heavy as his coworkers begin coming to him with their personal and professional concerns and suggestions. Standout performances also go out to Leonie Benesch as a junior crewmember who is a German citizen tasked with serving as a translator. Add in a stellar performance played by Ben Chaplin, who plays Operations Manager Marvin Bader, a Jewish New Yorker who feels personally invested into the outcome of the hostage situation as his family was directly touched by the events of the Holocaust.

Directed by Swiss filmmaker Tim Felhbaum, who also wrote the movie with Munich-born screenwriter Moritz Bender, the film is less focused on the mission that went down that day (a la Steven Spielberg’s film Munich) and more on the journalistic approach. It has the feel of a thriller thanks in part to the pacing created by Bender and Felhbaum. A big shoutout also goes to Cinematographer Markus Förderer and his team for highlighting the drama through the lens of handheld cameras while adding texture to images in order to give the feel of watching events go down via actual 1970’s news video.

In the film September 5 we are essentially watching the establishment of live news as entertainment – the way networks currently cover hurricanes, hostage situations, etc. The movie gives us a peek into what happened inside that newsroom back in the Summer of 1972 at the Munich Olympic Games. It is a fascinating tale for those who enjoy watching procedurals and individuals intrigued by the moving of a moral compass. We may not fully grasp or appreciate the decisions reporters and their bosses make on the fly in order to bring us the news of major events; however, September 5 at least raises that awareness.