September 5 Review
September 5 (2024) Film Review, a movie directed by Tim Fehlbaum, written by Moritz Binder, Alex David and Tim Fehlbaum and starring John Magaro, Peter Sarsgaard, Ben Chaplin, Leonie Benesch, Zinedine Soualem, Georgina Rich, Corey Johnson, Marcus Rutherford, Daniel Adeosun, Benjamin Walker, Solomon Mousley, Daniel Betts, Rony Herman and Jeff Book.
Films don’t come much more intense and realistic than the new journalism drama, September 5, which is centered in the control room at ABC as television journalists capture the details of the true-to-life massacre in Munich, Germany during the 1972 Olympic games. Filmmaker Tim Fehlbaum has crafted a movie with unrelenting tension throughout. The movie’s intensity is created through a fiercely powerful music score that permeates the proceedings here and keeps the viewer in great suspense throughout even though many people watching the film will know the results of what happened in the end regarding the ten Israeli hostages that were taken by Palestinian terrorists who were known collectively as Black September. Those hostages included athletes and coaches.
About halfway through the movie, authorities try to cease the transmission of the reporting of the events going on regarding the hostages. Rooney Arledge (Peter Sarsgaard) is put in the middle of a dilemma, not knowing how to proceed due to the revelations of what was happening and how quickly it all was occurring. Although the news of the terrorists interrupted the games, those games which were still in progress had to be completed before the halt on Olympic activities was officially enforced.
One particularly well done scene in the harrowing, September 5, comes late in the film when the news is broken on the air that the hostages had appeared to be safe. Sources has attested to the fact which led to our hero in the movie, producer Geoffrey Mason (John Magaro) making a decision to try to reveal the truth before anyone else. But, the film proves that the quest for accurate reporting was blurred by the differences in the way the sources reported different results which confused the ABC crew members and then some.
Ben Chaplin plays a key role here. As Marvin Bader, his character comes into conflict with Geoffrey as they have different viewpoints on how to report the news but the problem is the fact that journalism is centered around getting the news out as quickly and as accurately as possible. That’s easier said than done. This movie captures the whole nerve-wracking and frustrating process of journalism in a fascinating and compelling fashion.
As the translator, Marianne Gebhardt, Leonie Benesch delivers a terrific performance as she goes out to get a story and witnesses the chaos surrounding her which makes her question her integrity and face the challenges and uncertainty of her chosen profession. In the middle of all this, Peter Jennings (Benjamin Walker) is doing his own work outside the control room and the characterization is mostly a voice on the phone during the picture.
Steven Spielberg made a movie called Munich a little less than 20 years ago. It covered some territory that September 5 covers but I much prefer the new picture to Spielberg’s film. There was a lot of effort that Spielberg made to create a dramatization of the events he chose to portray but Fehlbaum takes a more intensified approach in revealing the journalistic side of the devastating events that occurred on that tragic day in September, 1972.
John Magaro displays complexity in his performance as his character must make some hard choices that nobody in his position would ever see coming. As he’s thrown for a loop and put under pressure, Skarsgaard’s character and Chaplin’s character oversee his actions and react to them with uncertainty. It appears the only amount of understanding that can possibly be drawn from these tragic events as they are occurring is in spurts as all the details weren’t exactly clear.
Magaro can adapt himself to almost any type of role he plays. He is an accomplished actor and this film is proof. Chaplin as the voice of reason seems to have a solid grasp on his performance as well and it’s great to see the talented Chaplin working again. Benesch is the icing on the cake in one of the year’s best female supporting performances. It’s hard to single any one performance out but if someone’s going to get nominated from this stellar ensemble, it could well be Benesch who emerges with the acting nomination from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. In a smaller role, Zinedine Soualem as crew member, Jacques Lesgards, also proves to be a major stand-out as well.
September 5 is the type of movie that draws the viewer in right from the very first moments. One won’t be able to stop watching the picture which plays like you’re watching it in real time given the way the film grips the audience from beginning to end. While the movie feels shorter than it could have been, there is a great emotional impact the film will leave on audiences by the time the picture concludes. At the very end credits, the film pays tribute to the victims of the massacre and the journalistic crew at ABC who fought hard to make sure that people had all the facts regarding this horrifying event in a timely and delicate fashion. This movie is a testament to their hard work and a reminder of the horrifying violence that threatened the Olympics in 1972. This is a must-see.
Rating: 9/10
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