The infamous attacks that took place during the 1972 Munich Olympics, where 11 Israeli athletes were murdered by members of the militant Palestinian group Black September, have been portrayed in a number of well-known films before.
Initially, we have Kevin McDonald’s 1999 documentary titled “One Day in September.” This film won the Oscar for Best Documentary Feature. Later, in 2005, Steven Spielberg recreated these events in his movie “Munich,” with a primary focus on the consequences that followed.
Currently, the narrative serves as the foundation for an upcoming movie entitled “September 5.” This film offers a unique perspective on the events, focusing on the ABC TV team reporting the Games. Notably, it has already secured a nomination in the Best Original Screenplay category at the forthcoming Oscars.
In a new twist, actor John Magaro from Past Lives takes on the role of Geoffrey Mason, a sports producer with limited experience, who found himself in a challenging position, managing the live broadcast of a hostage situation. The cast additionally features Peter Sarsgaard as the head of ABC Sports, Roone Arledge, and Ben Chaplin portraying Marvin Bader, the network’s operations chief.
How accurate is the portrayal of events in the movie, though? Here’s a breakdown of the facts.
September 5: How much of the film is true?
Overall, September 5 offers a strikingly authentic portrayal of events, as seen through the eyes of the ABC Sports team. In fact, a significant portion of what we witness in the movie is archived footage from their live broadcast, making it as real and genuine as it gets.
Additionally, our production team conducted extensive research to authentically depict the setting of the coverage, using equipment from the era and recreating an accurate representation of the original ABC Sports broadcasting facility, with a design team brought in specifically for this purpose.
Simultaneously, numerous particulars, such as the instance where ABC employee Gary Slaughter (Daniel Adeosun), undercover as an athlete, managed to penetrate the Olympic Village and sneak in equipment for recording, align remarkably well with the established facts.
While it’s important to note that this portrayal is a dramatization rather than a factual documentary, there are some elements that may not align perfectly with actual events. For instance, the character of Marianne Gebhardt, who is depicted as the film’s translator by Leonie Benesch, appears to be fictional, as there’s no historical record of such a person existing.
As for the events of the hostage crisis themselves, these are depicted broadly accurately.
In the movie, it’s clear that eight individuals from the Palestinian militant group known as Black September seized control of eleven athletes from the Israeli Olympic team. They swiftly executed two of them immediately upon infiltrating the Olympic Village.
As a condition for freeing the captives, the group asked for the freedom of numerous Palestinians and non-Arab detainees imprisoned in Israel at that moment. If their requests were ignored, they warned that they would execute another hostage for each hour that passed.
It’s also worth noting that the perpetrators were aware of ABC’s news broadcast about the events, which caused a rescue operation to be cancelled due to this knowledge. Furthermore, it was incorrectly reported by ABC that the later aborted rescue mission at Munich-Riem Airport had succeeded.
In the end, every single hostage perished at the airport, along with one West German police officer and five out of the original eight members of Black September, who lost their lives in retaliation after a surprise attack by the police.
Indeed, it’s worth mentioning that the circumstances and history behind these occurrences are intricate and extensive, and the timing of the movie’s release, amidst ongoing conflicts between Israel and Palestine, has sparked controversy in certain circles.
To clarify, the focus of this movie isn’t primarily on the conflict itself, but rather on a specific instance within live television broadcasting. The film highlights the tough conditions under which such events are reported and, at times, questions the way the coverage was handled.
At a Venice Film Festival press conference prior to last year’s premiere (as reported by Deadline), director Tim Fehlbaum stated about the ongoing conflict in Gaza and the Middle East: “We aren’t aiming to deliver a political message. Naturally, we conducted thorough research into all the events leading up to that point, but ultimately, our film focuses on portraying the media’s perspective.
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2025-02-06 14:39