‘September 5’: Venice Review

Dir: Tim Fehlbaum. Germany. 2024. 94mins 

At the Munich Summer Olympics in September 1972, Palestinian terrorists took members of the Israeli team hostage — and ABC Sports was on the scene, covering the standoff live for nearly 24 hours. Taking viewers into the control booth, September 5 recounts that tragic day with a combination of electricity and dread, drawing on strong performances for a meditation on the media’s responsibilities during such a volatile situation.

Operating in a stripped-down docufiction manner that emphasises the tense circumstances

Tim Fehlbaum’s third feature (after Hell and Tides) must negotiate a tricky tonal balance, capturing the inherent excitement of this unpredictable, high-stress broadcast while acknowledging the lives that hang in the balance. That tightrope walk may not always be smooth, but this true-life procedural illustrates how journalists (and audiences) can be seduced by a thrilling story, until everything goes horribly wrong. 

Premiering in Venice’s Horizons Extra section, September 5 opens in Germany in November. A cast led by Peter Sarsgaard and John Magaro should attract viewers, as will the undeniably gripping narrative. This German production is hardly the first film to address the 1972 Olympics massacre — previous pictures include the Oscar-winning documentary One Day In September and Steven Spielberg’s Munich — but the ongoing conflict in Gaza may make September 5’s subject matter unexpectedly timely.

Early on September 5, 1972, inexperienced young TV producer Geoffrey Mason (Magaro) reports for work at the control centre of ABC Sports in Munich as part of the team that will be broadcasting that day’s Olympic events. But the morning preparations are interrupted by the sound of nearby gunshots — and the realisation that they are coming from the Olympic Village, where the athletes reside. Forced to run the room as more senior producers are unavailable, Mason coordinates between cameramen, on-camera announcers and his boss, respected veteran executive Roone Arledge (Sarsgaard), to follow the shocking, fast-developing story that the Palestinian terrorist group known as Black September has forced its way into the rooms of the Israeli Olympic team, threatening to kill them unless their demands are met.

Operating in a stripped-down docufiction manner that emphasises the tense circumstances, Fehlbaum presents these events through the eyes of Mason, who must prove himself during an unprecedented situation. Initially, ABC is the only network reporting on the hostage crisis but, soon, the brass at ABC News back in the US want to take over the story; Arledge refuses, putting his trust in his relatively untested producer. Aided by a local colleague, Marianne Gebhardt (Leonie Benesch), who interprets German news broadcasts, Mason must keep his wits about him while they try to determine what is going on in the Olympic Village.

Editor Hansjorg Weissbrich keeps this intimate drama rocketing along, harnessing the frantic energy of different individuals – all good at their jobs – running through corridors, talking through headsets or yelling on the phone as new information slowly becomes available. Those who know how this hostage standoff resolved itself will watch September 5 with queasy fascination, awaiting the tragic conclusion. 

But that ending is unknown to the characters, and Magaro gives a complicated performance as an ambitious producer invigorated by this opportunity to demonstrate his mettle. The actor plays Mason as savvy and resourceful, but also a little too swept up in the adrenaline rush. Sometimes, September 5 can be as well, which makes it hard to know how much Fehlbaum is savouring the clockwork precision of his well-executed film, as opposed to articulating that journalists can get so engrossed by a big story that they think more about its intrinsic entertainment value than any potential grave consequences. 

Clearly, Fehlbaum seeks to blur that line, but occasionally the machinations of Mason’s quick thinking feel superficially stirring without that greater recognition underneath. That said, the preordained outcome is handled with the proper sensitivity and, as September 5 draws to a close, the ABC Sports team’s efforts are viewed from the right critical distance.

Sarsgaard is commanding as the hard-driving Roone, while Ben Chaplin brings a necessary counterbalance as Marvin Bader, a fellow producer who urges caution in not reporting information too early, lest they get the facts wrong. And Benesch, excellent in 2023’s The Teachers’ Lounge, gives a quiet, observant performance as Maryanne, one of the few Germans working with ABC Sports. For her, the implications of Jewish men being terrorised on German soil, not that long after the Holocaust, conjure up sickening memories. Not surprisingly, she is the character least enraptured by the drama swirling around her.