As a history buff with a knack for all things related to journalism, I found “September 5” nothing short of captivating. This film takes us back to a time when news was still raw, unfiltered, and delivered in real-time, long before social media and the internet ruled our screens.
In this fast-paced, digitally connected world where breaking news instantly floods our social media and news feeds on our mobile devices, it’s captivating and eye-opening to watch the movie “September 5“, which portrays the remarkable efforts made by ABC Sports staff to broadcast live the horrific terrorist attacks at the 1972 Munich Olympics. Given the significantly less advanced technology they had compared to what we have now, their achievement was truly impressive.
Tim Fehlbaum’s third movie masterfully portrays not just the technical obstacles his team overcame to document the crisis live, utilizing large TV cameras, hidden 16mm film stock, multiple walkie-talkies, and a great deal of creativity. More crucially, it delves into the challenging dilemmas confronting journalists – including a key female translator – as they strive to report on a scenario where countless human lives were at stake, grappling with difficult ethical questions along the way.
The profound questions posed throughout the story, along with compelling, well-seasoned performances by an exceptional cast, elevate “September 5” beyond a mere time capsule detailing news coverage in the pre-digital era; it serves as a narrative that resonates with our current times too.
The movie skillfully blends a wealth of footage from September 5, 1972 – a day that has become notorious for those who experienced it firsthand – with fictional yet accurate depictions of the ABC team’s tireless efforts behind the scenes. It primarily concentrates on the crucial newsroom personnel who battled to ensure its broadcast.
They consist of Roone Arledge (played by Peter Sarsgaard), the ABC executive overseeing the broadcast of the ’72 Munich Olympics; Marvin (portrayed by Ben Chaplin), the shrewd and temperamental head of operations; Marianne (Leonie Benesch), a local German interpreter; and Geoff (John Magaro), a young producer assigned to cover an unremarkable day of boxing and volleyball, who instead stumbles upon something far more consequential.
Initially, things appear quiet as Mark Spitz clinches a gold medal in swimming, causing the TV team to relax for a seemingly uneventful shift. However, this tranquility is disrupted when gunshots echo from the Olympic Village, only a few blocks away from their temporary base at ABC. With the higher-ups on a break, Geoff takes charge and works tirelessly to both uncover what’s happening and broadcast it live to viewers in the U.S.
Assisted by Marianne, who progresses from being an overlooked backroom interpreter to a prominent field reporter, Geoff and his colleagues swiftly comprehend that a significant and potentially world-altering situation is unfolding: Palestinian militants, identified with the group called Black September, have murdered two Israeli athletes and abducted close to a dozen others, demanding the liberation of hundreds of prisoners in exchange.
These events transpired in Germany, a time when the nation was acknowledging publicly its past atrocities committed against Jews during World War II. The history is deeply etched in Geoff and others’ minds, particularly Marvin, whose parents were Holocaust victims. He carries a significant resentment towards any Germans he interacts with.
In the opening minutes of the film, Felhbaum, co-writer with Moritz Binder, provides some background information about Marvin and other characters. The scene begins with a backstage look at the ABC Sports team at work. Following this, the narrative swiftly transitions into an engaging, real-time depiction of how the Munich coverage was put together on September 5th.
One significant hurdle Geoff encounters involves capturing footage of the building where hostages are being held. Agile and not afraid to venture into risky situations, he strategizes by rolling a large newsroom camera up onto a hill near the office, while a smaller 16mm camera, accompanied by star reporter Peter Jennings (Benjamin Walker), is discreetly transported into a building opposite the Israeli dormitories under siege.
However, this brings up another point: How do you retrieve the 16mm footage from a zone under police lockdown? Geoff proposes an unconventional solution: disguising one crew member (Daniel Adeosun) as a Team U.S.A. athlete and having him sneak in and out, carrying a few film cans attached to his person. The developed reels are processed in a mobile lab on-site, with one of them containing the iconic black-and-white images of a masked Black September member loitering on the balcony.
On September 5th, Felhbaum skillfully balances providing all the necessary technical details while simultaneously painting a broader context for the viewer. For instance, we learn that Jennings reported events through a telephone, with the receiving end connected to a studio microphone – yet, Felhbaum takes pauses to allow viewers to grasp the larger narrative at play.
If Black September manages to execute one of the athletes, would the team also record and broadcast it live on TV, potentially transmitting it back home to David Berger’s parents? David Berger is an American-born weightlifter competing under the Israeli flag in this context. The film does not delve into the broader Israeli-Palestinian issue but focuses solely on the events that transpired at that time.
Geoff finds himself in a dilemma as he weighs the advice from Marvin, who serves as the moral compass for the crew, and Roone, who’s battling his network and even CBS, their shared satellite link partner, to maintain exclusivity on the story. The fact that the team is more versed in sports than terrorism events complicates matters further, yet it seems that their experience with live broadcasting may have been the key to their success, as hinted at by September 5th.
Despite the already known outcome of the Munich attacks, the movie maintains an air of tension till the very end. It zeroes in on characters who are caught in a struggle between their professional duties and the realization of the high stakes involved. Magaro (from ‘Past Lives’ and ‘First Cow’) beautifully portrays this conflict, as does the rest of the cast, with skilled actress Benesch (from ‘The Teachers’ Lounge’ and ‘Babylon Berlin’) masterfully depicting a character in a challenging predicament, acting as a go-between for Germans and Americans.
In 1972, the tools at their disposal were either shaky 16mm cameras or massive studio equipment. However, Fehlbaum and cinematographer Markus Förderer have a wider range of options today, yet they continue to use close, shoulder-mounted shots to emphasize the actors’ performances. Editor Hansjörg Weissbrich skillfully integrates all available archive news footage into the film, so we primarily witness the actual footage shot by ABC Sports crew, rather than reenactments of those scenes.
Instead of the gritty, naturalistic style appearing vastly different from the director’s prior work, which was a complex sci-fi film titled “The Colony“, it’s important to note that despite Fehlbaum perhaps making some adjustments based on real events inside the ABC newsroom, he consistently emphasizes the enduring value of authentic journalism over fabricated news in the most impactful manner.
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2024-08-29 22:25