September 5
September 5
"September 5" is a historical drama film directed by Tim Fehlbaum that focuses on the 1972 Munich Olympic hostage crisis from the perspective of the ABC Sports crew. The film highlights their transition from covering the Olympics to reporting on the hostage situation involving Israeli athletes, and showcases the intense and emotional experience of live broadcasting during a global tragedy.
Kevin Ward reviewedJuly 1, 2025
Historical drama directed by Tim Fehlbaum, that offers a gripping portrayal of the 1972 Munich Olympic hostage crisis, focusing on the ABC Sports crew's real-time coverage of the tragic events. This incident not only shocked the world but also marked a pivotal moment in live news broadcasting, as media outlets, including ABC Sports, provided continuous coverage, bringing the horror into living rooms worldwide.
Fehlbaum places us in the control room of the ABC sports crew where Peter Sarsgaard plays Roone Arledge overseeing backup producer Geoffrey Mason (John Magaro) that find themselves being uniquely positioned to cover this breaking news story that’s unfolding a mere hundred yards away.
Taking place almost entirely within the control room the production utilizes a ton of real archive footage of the broadcast to recreate what the control room atmosphere was like and it is very effective. Taut and tense. Sarsgaard and Magaro are excellent as they grapple with the ramifications of covering a breaking story live and the differences between investigative journalism and live sports. With all this cutting edge technology at their fingertips and with an opportunity for mind blowing ratings, what responsibility do they have for journalistic decency, truth and/or safety? “Can we show someone being murdered on live TV?” Mason asks out loud, perhaps unsure of what he would like the answer to be.
Leonie Benesch is also excellent here as their German translator, Marianne Gebhardt. I loved her in last years The Teacher’s Lounge and so I was pleasantly surprised to see her here. Marianne is more than just a bridge between languages; she’s a window into Germany’s post-war psyche, her nervous energy a reflection of a nation unsure of how to handle the world’s gaze during a crisis. Her role in explaining cultural nuances to Arledge and Mason such as, why the police response is subdued and what the political stakes are.
I rather loved this. It’s a biting look at sensationalism in media, and a model where ratings and drama take precedence over humanity, and even truth. In one of the closing moments as Mason attempts to console Gebhardt for putting her at the front lines of a tragedy and how scary that may have been for her, she looks at him dejected. “It was fine. I was with hundreds of other people. We were all there just trying to take a picture of it.”
Mason acknowledges and nods in agreement. “So, I’ll see you tomorrow?”