September 5 (15)

★★★★ This old-school procedural of the Munich Games massacre is a slick grown-up thriller. ~ Irish Independent.

---

"September 5" 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 follows an American Sports broadcasting team that quickly adapted from sports reporting to live coverage of the Israeli athletes taken hostage.

Through this lens, "September 5" provides a fresh perspective on the live broadcast seen globally by an estimated one billion people at the time.

At the heart of the story is Geoff (John Magaro), a young and ambitious producer striving to prove himself to his boss, the legendary TV executive Roone Arledge (Peter Sarsgaard).

Together with German interpreter Marianne (Leonie Benesch) and his mentor Marvin Bader (Ben Chaplin), Geoff unexpectedly takes the helm of the live coverage.

As narratives shift, time ticks away, and conflicting rumors spread, with the hostages' lives hanging in the balance, Geoff grapples with tough decisions while confronting his own moral compass.

---

★★★★★ When it came to the snubs on the recent Oscars shortlist, this excellent docudrama received just one nomination - Best Original Screenplay - when it deserved a handful. It also deserves to be seen by the widest audience possible. ~ RTE.

★★★★★ This retelling of the 1972 Munich Olympics massacre raises urgent ethical questions. ~ Financial Times.

★★★★★ Dramatising the efforts of American TV network ABC to cover the hostage crisis at the 1972 Munich Olympics, Tim Fehlbaum’s film transforms the unfurling chaos into a drum-tight procedural. ~ The Scotsman.

★★★★ The story of the 1972 Munich Olympics terrorist massacre – in which 11 Israeli hostages were killed by the Palestinian Black September group, dying along with five of members of the group and one West German police officer – is retold by the Swiss director and co-writer Tim Fehlbaum as a taut, tense thriller. The film leaves it up to us to make what we will of modern parallels. ~ The Guardian.

★★★★ This gripping newsroom drama recounts one world-altering day in Munich. ~ Time Out.

★★★★ Compelling and excellently acted, September 5 is a shining study of journalistic integrity, even if it skips some of the bigger and more important questions raised by the event it documents. ~ Empire.

★★★★ ~ The Observer.

★★★★ ~ Radio Times.

★★★★ ~ The Times.