September 5, a tightly assembled, US-centric thriller, revisits the 1972 Munich Olympics hostage crisis from the vantage of the control room of the ABC television network. Directed by the German film-maker Tim Fehlbaum, who previously helmed the bleak science-fiction features Tides and Hell, this docudrama eschews political context for the thrills and pressures of live television.
A rookie TV producer, Geoffrey Mason (John Magaro), is working the graveyard shift when distant gunfire alerts the news team that something terrible is unfolding in the nearby Olympic Village. Working with ABC Sport’s president, Roone Arledge (Peter Sarsgaard), its head of operations, Marvin Bader (Ben Chaplin), and a makeshift German interpreter, Marianne (Leonie Benesch, star of The Teacher’s Lounge), the news team scramble to train their bulky cameras on the Palestinian militants from the Black September group who have taken the Israeli Olympic team hostage.
The crisis escalates as the kidnappers demand the release of 200 prisoners in exchange for the Israeli hostages, with the threat of executing one athlete each hour.
It’s an incident previously (and more convincingly) chronicled by Steven Spielberg’s Munich and Kevin Macdonald’s Oscar-winning documentary One Day in September. Nonetheless, as a journalistic procedural, the film’s snappy, real-time rhythms are compelling.
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There are fascinating details, from the use of acetate in creating on-screen titles to West Germany’s decision to use unarmed troops for PR reasons. There are tense negotiations with rival networks to ensure continuity for a breaking story that, as the closing credits note, was watched by 900 million people.
A frantic control room contends with the competing demands of misinformation and confirmation. In a sobering vignette, the reporters realise that their cameras may have thwarted a military intervention.
The lack of geopolitical context is questionable, but the film-making is sound. The movie’s editor, Hansjörg Weissbrich, maintains a brisk pace. Deftly used snippets of archive footage amplify the documentary realism. A sure-footed ensemble propels the story towards its harrowing conclusion.
September 5 is in cinemas from Friday, February 7th
