Everything that happens has happened for a first time. Terrorism as we know it has been with us since the late 18th century, but on September 5th, 1972, something happened for the first time. As the Palestinian militant group Black September stormed the Munich Olympic Village, killed two members of the Israeli team and took nine more hostage, it was captured live on television. This was the first time a terrorist action was captured live, and the choices that the journalists doing that work made helped shape the conversation around broadcast and journalistic ethics in ways we still feel today.
September 5 captures this event from the perspective of these journalists, bringing us inside the broadcast centre as things unfold, giving us context for how choices were made and technology was physically macgyvered to make the coverage possible. At the centre of it all is Geoffrey Mason (John Magaro) and Roone Arledge (Peter Sarsgaard), the head of the control room and president of ABC Sports, respectively. As the situation evolves, they take steps to ensure that they are the ones telling it, becoming the de facto source of information for the world while ensuring that the coverage is captivating and sensational.
The resulting film is, in a word, gripping. People sitting around in a room telling people outside that room where the cameras should point doesn’t seem like it would be, but director Tim Fehlbaum uses the tight space and ticking clock to great effect. The choice to use actual archive footage makes it all feel authentic. The film highlights the choices the team has to make as they make them, and it is very human and relatable, not just in the things they get right but in the things they get wrong.
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Movie Review: Gripping Thriller “September 5” Lead By Strong Performance From John Magaro | For Reel
