REEL | 'September 5' Relives the Munich Massacre x WFF 2024

"They're all gone."

Whistler Film Festival

September 5 dramatizes the horrific 1972 Munich massacre hostage crisis at the 1972 Summer Olympics in West Germany from the perspective of the ABC Sports newsroom's real-time live coverage. Swiss director Tim Fehlbaum tries to set aside political history in order to relive the real-life events raw in the moment from an outside viewpoint.

Starring Peter Sarsgaard, John Magaro, Ben Chaplin, and Leonie Benesch, there's a workmanlike anonymous quality to watching these relatively unknown characters in a television control room for ninety-four tense minutes do their jobs at the height of tension without much prior introduction. From a script written by Fehlbaum, Moritz Binder, and Alex David, everyone is framed from the context of an ongoing tragedy beyond the victims and perpetrators.

There's a process-driven nature to the chaos of capturing international mayhem broadcast live around the world. How September 5 is edited with archival 16mm footage and montages of period analogue technology transports us back to the early 1970s briskly. Fehlbaum certainly captures the notion of sports broadcasters thrust into the moment as eight Palestinian militants (the Black September Organization) holding the entire Israeli Olympic team hostage in a compelling fashion.

September 5 screened at the 2024 Whistler Film Festival as part of the Special Presentations program.


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