On September 5th 1972 the Palestinian Militant Group Black September infiltrated the Munich Olympics and attacked the Israeli Olympic Team in their apartments in the Olympic Village. Murdering two and holding a further nine hostage. As all of this was happening the ABC sports broadcasting team were able to capture live coverage of the event. The first time in history a terrorist act had been broadcast live around the globe. 

September 5 aims to capture that story by focusing on the team within the control room and the challenges that they faced. 

Roone Arledge (Peter Sarsgaard) is the President of ABC Sports and is keen on the idea that to capture viewers they must play on their emotions. Geoffrey Mason (John Magaro) in his first time in charge of the control room is also eager to do the best job possible of making compelling viewing. Whereas Marvin Bader (Ben Chaplin), head of operations at ABC Sports acts as their conscience warning them that this story is about real life people whose lives are at stake. 

What follows is fascinating and often riveting stuff. Front and centre are the ethical dilemmas about what they are doing; can they show someone get murdered on live television? Are they helping or hindering the rescue attempts? Whose story are they representing? Are they doing this for their own self interests? But there is also a side story about the ingenuity shown in this pre-digital age about how they capture this story. Captions are painstakingly created, images are photographed close up and redeveloped at a larger size, the invention of a channel’s logo being inserted into frame happens, phones are rewired and soldered together and real physical film is smuggled into the Olympic village. And it is this side story that makes you an accomplice in the ethical dilemma unfolding. You naturally start to root for the team as they try to capture the footage and make yourself part of the question about if this is the right thing to do. 

The film is expertly assembled. The script from Moritz Binder, Alex David and Tim Fehlbaum (who also directs) is tight and pointed. Running in at just 95 minutes it delivers its message in an economic and punchy manner. Whilst the trio of Skarsgaard, Magaro and Chaplin deliver strong performances. 

Any film that can deliver a well known true story in a manner that makes you feel tense and unsure about the outcome has done its job exceptionally well. September 5 may perhaps look at a bleak event and point to a bleak future of News broadcasting but it’s a fascinating watch.