September 5 Movie Review

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“September 5” is solid storytelling. The tempo. The structure. The acting. All impeccable. It tells us about what happened during the 1972 Olympic Games in Munich when a terrorist organization did the worst thing imaginable.

September 5th came to be known as the Munich Massacre. Unlike Spielberg’s “Munich” this movie is seen from the vantage of the cast and crew of ABC news who were there to cover the games yet see this all happening right in front of them. A lot of this takes place in their actual control room. This is a somewhat hazy, yet thrilling story of the events. 

Think there’s no way to make a compelling narrative out of something coming from a newsroom? Don’t make that bet. They are where the action is, and this unfolds so exceptionally well. The cameras can see everything if they themselves can’t. They discover, with a little intelligence, sleuthing and ingenuity, who is involved in what’s happening. Those involved are in a militant group called Black September. They are a subgroup of the Palestine Liberation Organization. They aim to frighten, and for seventeen hours, they do just that.

Writers Moritz Binder and Tim Fehlbaum reveal where the term terrorists, to describe such people, came from. The members of Black September, donned in track suits and wearing hoods, took Israeli athletes’ hostages and demanded the release of 236 prisoners or they’d kill the hostages, which they eventually did do. They took eleven innocent lives.

What you get here is how ABC Sports producer Geoffrey Mason (John Magaro) becomes very active in telling the world what’s going on. He’s not usually involved in the news side of things, something serious anchor Peter Jennings reminds him of, but he improves quickly. The tension builds as you watch the crew learn how to navigate this horrible situation. They’re being asked to do things that have never been asked of them before. The men passing information on to the public are Jim McKay and Peter Jennings. They work but shock is on their faces.

As decisions were being made, they had to ask, what if someone shoots a hostage? They can now be live vis satellite; do they want to go live and take a chance that their viewers are going to see a hostage gunned down? How far is broadcast journalism willing to go?

The irony is that all of this is happening in Hitler’s backyard. All eyes are once again in Germany, for the first time since the war. Hosting the Olympics was to be a positive transformation for them. Something to make them look good. That changed when this all of this started as, once again, racism is at the heart of their country.

The pacing is so good and as far as storytelling, the visuals are what keep you invested. Peter Sarsgaard and John Magaro have your heart pounding. How can this happen when you see this all take place in one location? Masterful filmmaking is how. There are other movies of this sort, but this is at the top.