RAVE: ‘September 5’ A Gripping And Entertaining Film On ABC Sports, The 72 Olympics and Ethics of Live Crisis Coverage
September 5 is a stunning and thought-provoking movie that opens in theaters this Friday. While I’m loathe to set expectations too high as to disappoint potential film-goers, this is a remarkable heart-pounding thriller that tells the insane story of arguably the first-ever terrorist attack and, inarguably the first live television coverage, of a crisis as the story is unfolding.
Written and directed by Swiss national Tim Fehlbaum, who worked with a Munich-based production company, it features Peter Saarsgard as television sports and news legend Roone Arledge and an ensemble cast of actors as crew members and on-air talent forced to cover the tragic events of the 1972 Olympics.
The story is told through the eyes of the ABC sports team in Munich, who are covering the first camera-ready Olympic games — which were designed in part to show off West Germany’s peaceful status post-WWII. Things go awry when shots are heard, and a team of executives, producers, talent, and control room operators accustomed to covering live sports is forced into covering a news event.
Through that lens, the audience sees the real-time challenges of live news journalism, as we see real-life characters struggle with massive ethical decisions like the danger of showing a live shooting to viewers or learning that the terrorists themselves are watching the very feed they are responsible for and adjusting accordingly. The culmination is, of course, the fog of war rumor challenges of hostages, survivors, and casualties and the importance of continuing with impeccably sourced data instead of whispers of what one wants to hear.
There is an acute dedication to the very analog and old-school production style and tools of the time, but not in a way that lingers. It is just a faithful representation of the literal cut and paste (no, not the “Command C” style of today’s digital production) as well as the heavy lifting and technical needs that have long been rendered outdated and useless through the advent of technology.
The film is a remarkably tight 90 minutes, is action-packed, and paced remarkably well. The viewer gets the sense that they are watching events unfold as they happen, and unless you are intimately familiar with the details of this event, there is a decent chance that there is a lot of fascinating new info.
It works perfectly as a journalist procedural thriller. But also, in our current era of 24/7 coverage and cable news often filling the time to watch a school shooting or some other tragedy unfold, it’s relevance is not just as a depiction of a historical event for political reasons but also for media reasons.
In a preview screening, Fehlbaumn said that the film’s concept inspired him, partly because we as a society take for granted many of the decisions we make carrying smartphones that capture live events in real-time and the way that the 1972 terrorist attack.
The ensemble cast playing real-life characters who worked for ABC Sports at the time, are remarkably dialed in. Not a frame of acting is wasted on belabored storytelling or unnecessary emoting. The film is paced magnificently and gives the viewer the sense of telling a fascinating story in the precise amount of time necessary.
This is an opinion piece. The views expressed in this article are those of just the author.
