September 5

An intelligent, razor-edged thriller, which chronicles US broadcaster ABC Sports’ coverage of the kidnapping of the Israeli national team during the 1972 Munich Summer Olympics, September 5 questions the nature of journalistic practice and the ethics of representing history as it unfolds.

On September 5 1972, members of a militant Palestinian faction known as Black September infiltrated the Olympic Village in Munich and took hostage the Israeli national team. It was the first terrorist act to be captured and broadcast live on television, and not by a seasoned team of current affairs journalists and ‘experts’, but by ABC Sports. Producer Roone Arledge (an electric Peter Sarsgaard) made it clear that his team wouldn’t relinquish their control of the coverage. But in doing so, he took on the responsibility of what an audience, including the terrorists themselves, would see.

Intentionally sidestepping the ideological underpinnings of what took place, Tim Fehlbaum’s tense drama centres the action within the orbit of the team capturing events as they unfold. It’s an entirely subjective perspective, but gives the film a verité approach to a pivotal moment in broadcasting history. This includes the team’s missteps as well as their achievements. In doing so, the film opens space for questions about the ethical practice of newsgathering: when does the story, or an audience’s ‘right to know’, supersede the safety of those whose plight the journalists are documenting?

– Ian Haydn Smith

Trailer

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