Review: 'September 5' ignites like a ticking time bomb
Movie audiences, full up on the Thanksgiving holiday treats of "Wicked" and "Gladiator II," may be in just the right mood for something more artistically nourishing. So step up for the absolutely riveting "September 5," now in limited release to qualify for award season.
Trust this conscience-haunted thriller that's based on a true story to earn its share. On Sept. 5, 1972, ABC Sports interrupted its live coverage of the Munich Olympics to report that 11 Israeli Olympic athletes and coaches had been taken hostage (and later massacred) by a Palestinian militant group known as Black September.
Old news? Hardly. Given the volatile political climate of right this very minute, "September 5" ignites like a ticking time bomb, showing the past as prelude.
In 2005's "Munich," Steven Spielberg directed a sorrowful epic about an Israeli retaliation team -- Daniel Craig, Geoffrey Rush and Ciarán Hinds played members -- sent to London, Paris, Athens and Beirut to eliminate the names it takes on faith are the architects of the Munich tragedy. The script by Tony Kushner aches with the futility of vengeance.
Nothing so all-encompassing occupies "September 5," which sticks to the "this-just-in" chaos of a single TV control room, turning the perceived limitation of a claustrophobic setting into a chance to investigate how real-time history is reported and the journalistic ethics of doing so.
In that sense, the film, spectacularly well directed by Tim Fehlbaum from a fly-on-the-wall script he co-wrote with Munich-born Moritz Binder, is occupied with news teams trying to hold to the ground while the ground keeps shifting. It will fry your nerves to a frazzle.
What is the truth? And what are the moral issues of being the first network to broadcast an act of terror on live TV? When does the impulse to be first and win Emmys (ABC won several Emmy Awards in 1973 following the event, including outstanding achievement in sports programming) conflict with responsibility, when all sides can view what's happening in real time?
The Munich events changed broadcasting for keeps as networks fight to cover breaking news. The swooping handheld camera of cinematographer Markus Förderer puts you right in the room as demands come in for Israel to release 200 Palestinian prisoners in exchange for the Olympians, or else one athlete will be executed on the hour, every hour.
How do actors fare in such a docudrama? Peter Sarsgaard knocks it out of the park as Roone Arledge, the ABC Sports czar (and later network president) who senses history in the making when gunshots are first heard in the Olympic Village and a telephoto lens captures a masked gunman on a balcony -- a photo that in real life chilled viewers on a global scale.
"We're not giving this story to News," shouts Arledge, sparking a turf war by assigning affable "Wide World of Sports" host Jim McKay (seen in actual clips) to break the story on air.
Everyone wants a piece of the action, leaving rookie producer Geoff Mason (a sharp, soulful John Magaro) to save the control room from total anarchy. Magaro, superb in "Past Lives," rivets attention as Mason rushes a false report that the hostages have been safely recovered without waiting for the confirmation demanded by exec Marvin Bader (Ben Chaplin).
Scaling this testosterone wall is "The Teachers' Lounge" breakout Leonie Benesch as Marianne Gebhardt, the only German-speaking member of a boys club unashamed of underestimating women. Start an Oscar campaign pronto for the brilliant Benesch, who is so good you want to cheer. All the actors could not be better or more fully committed.
Kudos too for Fehlbaum, who in only 94 minutes creates a pressure cooker of palm-sweating tension that leaves you shaken, even if you already know the outcome of this 17-hour ordeal. Make no mistake, Paramount Pictures' "September 5" is a potent provocation that will pin you to your seat.
