‘September 5’ recounts one of TV’s finest moments
“They’re all gone.”
Those fateful words have been seared into my memory since hearing ABC sportscaster Jim McKay deliver the grim news to some 900 million viewers around the world that Palestinian terrorists in Munich had murdered 11 members of the Israeli Olympic team. It was 1972, I had just begun my senior year in high school, and I could never have envisioned such a cruel, heinous act taking place, let alone watching it unfold live in my parents’ living room.
It was every bit as surreal as depicted in “September 5,” writer-director Tim Fehlbaum’s meticulous recreation of the day’s chaotic events as seen from the perspective of the producers and technicians manning the ABC control room just a football field away from 31 Connollystrasse. What transpired there inside apartments 1 and 3 of the Israeli compound we’ll never know. You can only imagine, and conclude it was likely much worse.
All we see are the black and white portraits of the hostages, posted side by side in two neat rows behind Geoffery Mason (John Magaro), the newbie producer experiencing the epitome of baptism by fire. He’s the one nervously calling the shots on where – and where not – to point the cameras, stirring unprecedented debates over whether it’s justifiable to televise live executions if, and when, they occur. Mason’s boss, Roone Arledge (Peter Sarsgaard), leans towards yes while production chief Marvin Bader (Ben Chaplin) emphatically disagrees.
That’s just one of a half-dozen intriguing quandaries emerging from a script by Fehlbaum and Moritz Binder that places one foot in the past and the other in the present by suggesting that decisions made on Sept. 5, 1972, may have led to what is now known as infotainment. Who’s fault is that: profit-minded news organizations eager to attract eyeballs or a prurient audience hungry for blood? It’s both, of course, only one is a little more ruthless than the other. To their credit, the writers don’t take sides. They leave it for you to determine what is and isn’t morally acceptable.
For me, it’s a story I’ve lived many times in my journalistic career whenever major events demand that you think on the fly and act without hesitation, while under intense pressure to meet deadlines without sacrificing the accuracy of the final product. It’s a huge responsibility and “September 5” authentically depicts every step of the process from the first moment the crew hears distant shots ring out at 4:30 a.m.
Much of the innovation we witness – the satellite technology, the placing of an on-screen network logo, sharing feeds with other outlets and providing first-person accounts live on air – has become the standard. Back then, it was revolutionary. Again, all credited to the tremendous teamwork by everyone involved, whether it’s the “talent” – Peter Jennings (Benjamin Walker doing a dead-on vocal impersonation), Howard Cosell (an uncredited and none-too-precise mimicry) and Jim McKay (seen in archival clips) – or the many folks behind the scenes – Arledge, Mason, Bader and German interpreter Marianne Gebhardt (Leonie Benesch), one of only two women in the room. It’s a thrill to watch them work – “Lord of the Rings”-style – as one pursuing a central goal.
That doesn’t mean there isn’t discord, with Bader, the pragmatist foreseeing the long-range effects of their decisions, often clashing with Arledge, the innovator who believes tapping into viewers’ emotions outweighs any risk of political fallout. You also marvel at the archaic “high-tech” gear they employ in covering a Summer Olympics that for the first time was broadcast live around the world.
What grips you is the movie’s outstanding international cast, led by Magaro (“Past Lives”) as the disrespected, neophyte producer evolving over the 17 hours from a passive persona to earning the support of his entire crew; and Benesch (“The Teacher’s Lounge”), whose Marianne advances from an unseen woman expected to fetch coffee for her male peers to an intrepid reporter personifying what it means to think on your feet and get the story by sourcing connections and asking tough questions.
I worry that “September 5,” as great as it is, might be “too inside baseball” for general audiences. As a journalist, it’s tough for me to make that call, being I’m one of the players as well as a news junkie. But if you’re an avid history buff, I think the film is a must-see. It’s also the perfect companion piece to Steven Spielberg’s controversial “Munich,” which depicted the Israeli response to the Olympic massacre and foreshadowed how an eye-for-an-eye mentality can only beget more extreme violence such as another September terrorist attack carried out 29 years and 6 days later.
Like Spielberg, Fehlbaum is a Jew unafraid of ruffling some feathers, making a similar anti-war statement by inserting an image of the World Trade Center followed by the firing of a starter gun. It’s subtle but effective. A less subtle reference is made to Peter Jennings and a smoking habit that would eventually claim his life. I found that to be a bit tasteless and unnecessary.
But that’s the only time “September 5” comes close to faltering in telling a harrowing tale juxtaposing the well-oiled gears of a network news operation with an incompetent, mistake-prone police force fearful of sending the wrong message at a time when Germany was obsessed with expunging its history as a Nazi regime.
In the bitter end, there were no winners, except for the athletes who shockingly went about their business during much of the standoff, and the folks at ABC Sports, who proved just as capable of reporting hard-hitting news as chronicling “the thrill of athletic competition.” That of course included the record seven gold medals won by American swimmer Mark Spitz, notably a Jew.
Movie review
September 5
Rated: R for language
Cast: John Magaro, Peter Sarsgaard, Ben Chaplin, Leonie Benesch, Benjamin Walker
Director: Tim Fehlbaum
Writers: Tim Fehlbaum and Moritz Binder
Runtime: 95 minutes
Where: In Los Angeles and New York City on Dec. 13 before going wide Jan. 10
Grade: A-
