September 5 (2024) review

Roone Arledge (Peter Sarsgaard), president of the sports division of ABC (the American Broadcasting Company), as well as his production team - which includes director Geoffrey Mason (John Magaro), translator Marianne Gebhardt (Leonie Benesch) and reporter Peter Jennings (Benjamin Walker) - are in Munich to provide coverage of the 1972 Summer Olympic games when the broadcast is interrupted by terrorists who have kidnapped Israeli athletes (and their coaches) and the news crew has to scramble to cover the developing story.  The film is almost entirely set inside the control room and while Fehlbaum tries to keep it moving at a nice rate (the editing is very good) in focusing solely on the ABC employees and their reactions it can't help but feel hollow and missing the bigger picture: the real tragedy is what's taking place outside their bubble.  It's hard to top Spielberg's Munich for a more intricate depiction of the incident (and Israel's response), but I suppose this is trying to make an argument for maintaining journalistic integrity in time of panic and uncertainty.  Also, individuals on various social media platforms have been saying the Palestinians are perpetual victims and incapable of doing anything wrong ... so what happened here, exactly?  Hmm?