I didn’t know the story behind the live reporting of the hostage fiasco that was the 1972 Munich Olympics. Sure I knew that 11 Israeli athletes and their coaches were held at gunpoint by members of the black September terrorist group and that all of the hostages were killed mainly due to the inept response by the German police, but what I didn’t know what it was the first international terrorist attack that was filmed and reported on live television.
September 5 is a gripping, claustrophobic and taunt retelling of the story from the perspective of the American ABC on site sports department team, who assumed responsibility ( over the US based News Team) to run and report the drama.
Although a professional tv team, the technicians and producers, were totally out of their depth , however they did rise to the occasion ( helped by a quick thinking and cool German interpreter Leonie Benench.)
Rookie producer Geoffrey Mason ( a sexy, intense John Magaro) leads the team well through the crisis supported by the always interesting Peter Sarsgaard as his tv veteran boss, and everything is filmed by hand held cameras giving the film an authentic 1970s feel to it.
The inexperience of the sports reporters showed in one pivotal moment when they all suddenly realised that the terrorists were actually gaining the upper hand by watching their live feed on tvs in the Olympic village
. A Chilling and terrifying moment in an impressive historical drama
I loved it
I remember the horror of this tragic event happening in Munich and think I'll give this account a miss.
ReplyDeleteHugs!
The terrorists were members of the Black September Organization terrorist group, not the Black Panthers.
ReplyDeleteI will correct thank u
DeleteEffectively.Keyboard errors can happen.CatherinefromFrance.
ReplyDeleteYes, I remember the awful events. I'm not sure it's one for me, though. xx
ReplyDeleteCary (my wife)and I got our first television to watch the '72 games. We watched the drama unfold, couldn't believe what was happening. It was botched by the German squad trying to deal with it...it became the training film for countries military and police how to deal with scenarios like this. I was only 3 years out of our military, and it affected me for some time.
ReplyDeleteThe mail reason we watched was because a fellow from Oregon, Steve Prefontaine, was running the 10k...he finished fourth.
That sounds like my cup of tea John. Thanks for the review.
ReplyDeleteI remember that so vividly. I was in high school by then, and we were all waiting for their release. When it was finally reported that they had all died, I couldn't believe it. It was just disbelief that something that awful could happen. Yet it did. We've seen so many horrible things since, haven't we.
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