September 5 (2024) * * * *

 

Directed by:  Tim Fehlbaum

Starring:  Peter Sarsgaard, John Magaro, Ben Chaplin, Benjamin Walker, Jim McKay (archive footage), Leonie Benesch, Rony Herman

September 5, 1972 was an unprecedented day in the history of the Olympic Games, and not because of Mark Spitz winning his record seventh gold medal.  The Munich Games, the first in Germany since 1936 Berlin, went on uneventfully under shots were fired in the Olympic Village before dawn.  Before long, it is learned two Israeli athletes were killed and nine others taken hostage by a terrorist organization called Black September.  

ABC Sports president Roone Arledge (Sarsgaard) soon puts all hands on deck to cover this unprecedented event.  He wrestles away control of coverage from ABC News to ABC Sports.  His reasoning was sound:  The ABC Sports headquarters in Munich are set up a few hundred yards from the Olympic village where Black September was conducting its reign of terror.  Why cover it from New York?  September 5 takes place over the course of one tense day where Black September operates in the shadows and the plight of the Israeli athletes hangs in the balance in the same nation which forged the Holocaust against Jews three decades earlier.

The sports team scrambles, pivots, and creatively covers the events on the fly behind producer Geoffrey Mason (Magaro), an inexperienced newcomer working his first shift as segment producer.  He expected to cover track and swimming and instead the story becomes Black September.  The sports team is resourceful and smart, trying in earnest to bring the full story to viewers, but what is correct and what is speculation? Why September 5 works so brilliantly is that it fosters tension and suspense even though we know the terrible outcome.  The final minutes in which it was believed the Israeli athletes were freed at the airport hits like a gut punch.  Geoffrey is discussing interviewing the athletes about the ordeal.  We know better and it is brings a tear to your eyes. 

The performances in September 5 are outstanding, but there are no flourishes or excessive emoting.  September 5 is tautly told and focused.  It is also the first new release in the last three years I've attached a four-star rating to.  Now that we know that Hollywood can make a four-star movie, it's time to begin making them again more frequently.