September 5

Writer/Director: Tim Fehlbaum

Writers: Moritz Binder & Alex David

The ABC sports team find themselves, while covering the 1972 Munich Olympics, thrust into the middle of a crisis as terrorists take 11 of the Israeli Olympic team hostage. As the only US TV crew on the ground, the team led by Roone Arledge (Peter Sarsgaard) and Geoffrey Mason (John Magaro), place trust in young head of operations Marvin Bader (Ben Chaplin) to cover the incident and tell a compelling story from the tragic events playing out in front of them.

While September 5 is centered around the tragic events that befell the Israelis, the story isn’t really about that. Rather, this looks at the attempts that a team, with no real news experience, makes to tell a story of unfolding human tragedy.

It does that in 95 minutes of tight, taught drama, which, while not in real time, feels like it is, speeding along, not really taking a moment to breathe, as the team reacts to the ever changing situation in front of them.

It also asks some interesting questions about news teams trying to balance how to tell a complex live story, that needs to balance the reality of impact on the real lives of those at its centre, with the need to get details and try to stay ahead of the competition. All of this, set against the politics of an Olympics and the cultural state of West Germany in 1972.

It’s a credit to the cast that, what could be a dry newsroom procedural, portrays the real tension of the situation, with the main cast supported well especially by Leonie Benesch and Zinedine Soualem.

The film looks great capturing the mechanical and manual nature of the technology available to tell a live story in 1072. It also makes extensive use of the real footage of both the broadcast and the hostage drama to provide authenticity.

September 5 is a drama that explores some of the challenges, ethical and otherwise, of telling truly high stakes new stories. At just 95 minutes, it speeds along, thrusting you right into the centre of the unfolding tragedy. A compelling piece of storytelling.