Review
SEPTEMBER 5 – Review
The tragic events at the 1972 Munich Summer Olympics, when Palestinian terrorists attacked Israeli athletes and took some hostage, has been to subject of other movies, including Stephen Spielberg’s MUNICH, but SEPTEMBER 5 tells that story from a unique viewpoint, that of the new media on site to cover that sporting event, and now thrust into a very different role. SEPTEMBER 5 is a taut historic drama specifically takes the perspective of the ABC Sports TV crew that was on-site when the attacks took place. As well as a shocking event that shattered the since of international cooperation and peace that had surrounded the Olympics, the event was a watershed in how TV media cover unfolding, breaking news events like that crisis.
When the terrorists took the Israelis hostage, the ABC TV Sports news team was suddenly thrust into the responsibility of covering a breaking news events, something that had never boon done and which had a profound effect on news reporting going forward.
Actually, Roone Arledge, the head of sports for the TV network, fought for his on-location team to remain in control of the coverage instead of turning it over to news reporters working remotely, as the Olympic village was locked-down by the crisis. The drama has the intensity of a thriller but also looks at both the technical innovations the team created on the spot and the ethics of reporting a crisis when lives were at stake.
Director Tim Fehlbaum co-wrote the script with Moritz Binder based on the real events, focusing on the TV news team as they race to cover the terrorist attack. The suspenseful film unfolds like a nail-biting thriller, as the journalists scramble to keep the world informed of unpredictable events with lives in the balance, and make ethical journalistic decisions, good or bad, on the fly.
Peter Sarsgaard plays ABC Sports executive Roone Arledge, the man in charge, but much of this taut drama focuses on a young Jewish-American producer, Geoff Mason (John Magaro), and his mentor Marvin Bader (Ben Chaplin). As Bader’s protege, Mason is given what is assumed to be an easy first-time assignment, to run the ABC Sports news room in the quiet hours of the night, while most of the TV crew rests up for the Olympics coverage the next day. No one expects much to happen.
Yet, during the night, everything changes, as Arab terrorists gain access to the Olympic village where the Israeli athletes are housed and take them hostage. The TV sports news crew suddenly finds themselves the only TV operation with cameras on-site to cover the breaking news of the hostage crisis.
The film focuses events from the viewpoint of the ABC sports news crew, so we see only what they see and know what they know about evolving events. Those wanting a closer look at what the hostages experienced would get a better view of that with Spielberg’s film.
Roone Arledge fought his bosses at ABC to keep the sports TV crew in place, instead of turning things over to a hard-news crew. The technicians, camera men and the rest of the TV production crew are forced to innovate and adapt to a very different kind of coverage, as events shift, creating solutions on the fly to keep the camera on events and the world informed. Some of what they did to adapt, including early moving camera and live broadcast work with equipment that now looks very primitive, has had a lasting impact on TV news and media, but their actions and choices in how they reported the crisis with hostages also raised questions of journalists ethics and moral judgments too.
Peter Sarsgaard’s Roone Arledge is the voice for aggressive efforts to keep the cameras on the terrorists and evolving events to deliver the news to the world in real-time, while Ben Chaplin’s Marvin Bader represents the voice for ethical restraint and human considerations of what is happening under the camera’s eye.
The true-story based SEPTEMBER 5, which has received critical praise and awards nominations since it’s debut at the Venice and Telluride film festivals, is fast-paced and edge-of-the seat suspenseful, with the cast delivering strong ensemble performances working with a well-crafted script. The film has been singled out for those performances, as well as the editing and script.
John Magaro is excellent as the young producer who is forced to make some difficult decisions and solve knotty technical problems under pressure from unfolding events and conflicting pressures from boss Roone Arledge, played forcefully by Peter Sarsgaard and the emotional human and ethical concerns of his mentor Marvin Bader, well-played by Ben Chaplin. A standout supporting role, Marianne Gebhard, is played by German actress Leonie Benesch, who was so good in THE TEACHER’S LOUNGE, where she played the lead role of the beleaguered teacher. Her character Marianne Gebhard is one of few women in this 1970s news room, and when she is pressed into service in the essential role of translator, she winds up adding a layer of rawer human emotional response to what is happening to the hostages, which Benesch does in a moving performance.
SEPTEMBER 5 is a tense historical drama well-worth seeing for its well-crafted, well-acted and suspense-filled telling of the 1972 Munich Olympics tragedy, and how TV coverage of it changed how breaking news is covered.
SEPTEMBER 5 opens Friday, Jan. 24, at multiple area theaters, with two preview showings at Plaza Frontenac Cinema on Thursday, Jan. 16, which include a post-screening, pre-recorded Q&A with the cast and director.
RATING: 3.5 out of 4 stars
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