Paramount Pictures’ ‘September 5’, the film that unveils the decisive moment that forever changed media coverage and continues to impact live news today, set during the 1972 Munich Summer Olympics. the film that unveils the decisive moment that forever changed media coverage and continues to impact live news today, set during the 1972 Munich Summer Olympics. Photo: Paramount Pictures.
Opening in theaters December 13th is ‘September 5,’ directed by Tim Fehlbaum and starring Peter Sarsgaard, John Magaro, Ben Chaplin, Leonie Benesch, Corey Johnson, Georgina Rich, Zinedine Soualem, and Benjamin Walker.
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Initial Thoughts
Roone Arledge (Peter Sarsgaard) in Paramount Pictures’ ‘September 5,’ the film that unveils the decisive moment that forever changed media coverage and continues to impact live news today, set during the 1972 Munich Summer Olympics. Photo: Paramount Pictures.
We take the idea of “breaking news” almost for granted now; the slogan is overused to the point that it’s almost laughable when a cable news network flashes “breaking news” on its chyron every time a politician drops a fork or ties their shoe. Yet “breaking news” wasn’t nearly as ubiquitous in 1972 as it is now, and ‘September 5’ recounts the tragic, tense story of how a terrorist act at the 1972 Summer Olympics in Munich changed not just the world, but broadcast journalism itself.
Working on basically one set, and cannily mixing archival footage of the real events with his fictional recreation, Swiss filmmaker Tim Fehlbaum spells out with great detail and precision how the ABC Sports team covering the Summer Olympics in Munich abruptly find themselves the world’s conduit to a scene of increasing dread. As a Palestinian terrorist group takes nine members of the Israeli Olympic team hostage within the village built for the athletes competing at the event, the crew and reporters must focus on getting the story right – and out to the world – as they face increasing challenges, including the dispensing of information itself. While ‘September 5’ doesn’t delve too deeply into the politics of the situation – which some may find a point of contention – the focus is more on the importance of journalism and how professionalism, accuracy, and speed must all find the right balance with morality and decency, while lives hang in the balance.
Story and Direction
Director Tim Fehlbaum on the set of Transmission room in Paramount Pictures’ ‘September 5,’ the film that unveils the decisive moment that forever changed media coverage and continues to impact live news today, set during the 1972 Munich Summer Olympics. Photo: Paramount Pictures.
“We follow the story no matter where it takes us.”
On September 5, 1972, those words hang hauntingly over ABC Sports president Roone Arledge (Peter Sarsgaard), broadcast producer Geoff Mason (John Magaro), and head of operations Marvin Bader (Ben Chaplin). In the early morning hours, members of a Palestinian militant group called Black September invade the Olympic village where the athletes are staying and take nine members of the Israeli Olympic squad hostage, while killing two others. German authorities have their hands tied by the country’s post-Nazi reforms, and government officials soon become evasive about their efforts to neutralize the crisis. With the terrorists and their victims ensconced in one of the Israelis’ apartments, Arledge, Mason, and their team – ABC being the exclusive on-site broadcast network for the Olympics – quickly pivot from their usual routine of covering swim and track events to chronicling a breaking news story that grips the entire world.
Quandaries ranging from the technological to the ethical face them every step of the way. A fight ensues with CBS over the use of precious satellite time (networks didn’t have nearly the resources available today). On-site reporters like Peter Jennings (Benjamin Walker) grapple with how close to get to the center of the crisis. And in one harrowing moment, the team realizes that the kidnappers themselves might be watching on TV as a rescue team attempts a stealth incursion into the apartment building, with ABC cameras tracking them. Beyond all that, bigger questions arise: how much do they show? How do they know they’re getting the story right? That latter dilemma plays out all too disastrously near the end of the crisis, as initial reports that the hostages have been freed from a bus taking them and their captors to the airport turn out to be horribly, heartbreakingly wrong.
Geoff Mason (John Magaro) stars in Paramount Pictures’ ‘September 5,’ the film that unveils the decisive moment that forever changed media coverage and continues to impact live news today, set during the 1972 Munich Summer Olympics. Photo: Paramount Pictures.
All this takes place, for the most part, in the ABC Sports broadcast control center, a small cramped room with a wall of TV screens on one side and a warren of even smaller, darker offices on the other. There’s not a lot of room there, and Fehlbaum captures the sweaty, smoky claustrophobia of the place while almost never cutting away from it. As massive as the events of ‘September 5’ are, they are all seen through the grimy lens of this single location, which in its own way focuses the story and the tension as Mason, Arledge, and their team – including an unassuming yet efficient German interpreter named Marianne (Leonie Benesch) who becomes integral to their actions – respond minute by minute, sometimes second by second, to the drama that is happening practically next door to them. The actual footage of ABC anchor Jim McKay and some of the events caught on camera on the day add to the film’s sense of realism and immediacy.
The calm neutrality of the news team plays a role in centering the drama, but creates some moral questions for the film as well. ‘September 5’ tries to stay above the politics of the situation, like the news team itself, but it becomes an elephant in the room both for the characters and the film we’re watching – especially in today’s climate. Likewise, some aspects of living and working in the 1970s are addressed almost perfunctorily, as if to get them out of the way and move on, leading to a few awkward moments. One member of the team brings up his Algerian heritage in a nod toward an outburst of racism, while Marianne is asked to “go get coffee, honey” by one of the ABC Sports technicians. Fehlbaum is so intent on telling his main story – and getting in and out in 90 succinct minutes – that either he absently overlooks these issues to stay on his main objective or purposely does so to mirror the circumstances in the control room, where no one has time for arguments.
The Cast
(L to R) Roone Arledge (Peter Sarsgaard), Hank Hanson (Corey Johnson), Jacques Lesgardes (Zinedine Soualem), Geoff Mason (John Magaro), Carter (Marcus Rutherford), Gladys Deist (Georgina Rich), Marvin Bader (Ben Chaplin), Marianne Gebhard (Leonie Benesch) star in Paramount Pictures’ ‘September 5’ the film that unveils the decisive moment that forever changed media coverage and continues to impact live news today, set during the 1972 Munich Summer Olympics. Photo: Paramount Pictures.
This is a true ensemble piece in every sense of the word, but the four main players are all fantastic in their roles. Peter Sarsgaard brings the same steely yet quiet resolve to the role of Roone Arledge – evolving into the legendary TV figure he later became – that he brought to the part of New Republic editor Charles Lane in 2003’s ‘Shattered Glass.’ A moment when he shouts at German police to get the hell out of his TV studio is bracing and even electrifying. Sarsgaard also effectively portrays Arledge’s inner conflict – he must lead from an ethical journalistic viewpoint, while knowing in an amoral sense that this is a huge career opportunity for him. Ben Chaplin, the sturdy British character actor who has been seen infrequently on the big screen in recent years, gives Marvin Bader gravitas as the conscience and moral center for both Arledge and John Magaro’s Geoff Mason.
Speaking of which, it’s Magaro’s portrayal of Mason, as well as Leonie Benesch’s work as Marianne Gebhardt, that are the standouts of ‘September 5.’ Following his excellent turn as Greta Lee’s husband in 2023’s ‘Past Lives,’ Magaro is riveting here as Mason, who keeps his calm and professional demeanor despite the emotional and mental turmoil and stress roiling him from all sides. Mason is simply a man who rises to the occasion in front of him, with little fuss and no complaining, and makes potentially historic decisions at a moment’s notice as he produces 22 solid hours of coverage of the events unfolding just a few hundred feet from his control room. It’s a masterfully quiet performance from Magaro that brims with authenticity.
Marianne Gebhard (Leonie Benesch) in Paramount Pictures’ ‘September 5,’ the film that unveils the decisive moment that forever changed media coverage and continues to impact live news today, set during the 1972 Munich Summer Olympics. Photo: Paramount Pictures.
Although her character is a composite, Benesch – so vivid in 2023’s ‘The Teacher’s Lounge’ – is also understated yet determined as Marianne, the German interpreter who becomes an integral part of the team’s ongoing coverage and even becomes a reporter herself at a moment’s notice. Unassuming yet forthright, Marianne is rocked by what’s happening in the midst of her country – not three decades after it was the scourge of the world and desperate to reform its image – yet never lets herself slip on the job. While the Oscars will no doubt look at other performances in other films for their acting categories, ‘September 5’ should be a lock for a Best Ensemble nod at the Screen Actors Guild Awards next year.
Final Thoughts
(L to R) Geoff Mason (John Magaro), Marvin Bader (Ben Chaplin) and Roone Arledge (Peter Sarsgaard star in Paramount Pictures’ ‘September 5,’ the film that unveils the decisive moment that forever changed media coverage and continues to impact live news today, set during the 1972 Munich Summer Olympics. Photo: Paramount Pictures.
‘September 5’ is as riveting a drama about journalism as ‘Spotlight’ or ‘All the President’s Men,’ two classics that it can proudly sit next to. Only, of course, while both those films end in a sort of victory for the reporters involved, ‘September 5’ does no such thing (that’s no spoiler – look up the historical facts yourself). And that’s also a lesson of the film – that, as quoted above, the people involved must follow the story even if it leads to an ending no one wants to believe.
Ultimately this is a movie about getting to the truth, getting it right, and getting the job done, a theme that many of today’s broadcast journalists seem to often forget in their rush to obtain access or burnish their own on-air image. It’s also about the ethics of journalism, knowing what to show and when to show it, and also determining the right course of action during a crisis of unprecedented importance to both world events and the state of broadcast journalism itself. That Tim Fehlbaum and his cast manage to delineate that clearly and with the rising tension of a thriller is a remarkable achievement in itself. But above all, the stakes for the hostages are unspeakably, tragically grave, and ‘September 5’ never lets us forget that.
‘September 5’ receives 9.5 out of 10 stars.
During the 1972 Munich Olympics, an American broadcasting team is thrust from covering sports to reporting a dramatic hostage situation involving Israeli athletes…. Read the Plot
What is the plot of ‘September 5’?
At the 1972 Summer Olympics in Munich, the ABC Sports broadcasting team is forced to pivot to real-time breaking news coverage as terrorists take the Israeli athletic team hostage and set an excruciating series of events in motion.
Who is in the cast of ‘September 5’?
- Peter Sarsgaard as Roone Arledge
- John Magaro as Geoffrey Mason
- Ben Chaplin as Marvin Bader
- Leonie Benesch as Marianne Gebhardt
- Zinedine Soualem as Jacques Lesgards
- Corey Johnson as Hank Hanson
- Georgina Rich as Gladys Deist
- Benjamin Walker as Peter Jennings
(L to R) Jacques Lesgardes (Zinedine Soualem), Marianne Gebhard (Leonie Benesch), Geoff Mason (John Magaro), Carter (Marcus Rutherford) star in Paramount Pictures’ ‘September 5’ the film that unveils the decisive moment that forever changed media coverage and continues to impact live news today, set during the 1972 Munich Summer Olympics. Photo: Paramount Pictures.
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