The only other history-based film I can remember that wound me up as tightly as the brilliant new SEPTEMBER 5, is Paul Greengrass's "United 93". Sharing that film's roots as a retelling of a major terrorist event, Tim Fehlbaum's film unveils the Black September attack on the 1972 Munich Olympics. Deftly weaving real footage of Jim McKay's legendary, on-the-fly commentary of that day's events with a great cast playing everyone else in the control room, the film grabs you immediately and then proceeds to tighten its grip for 90 minutes.
I remember the events at the time (as a pre-teen) but did not recall how the story ended, creating even greater suspense in the film's final 30 minutes.
Fehlbaum's Oscar nominated script pulls you quickly into the daily vibe and feel of broadcasting the Olympics and the politics of the time, just three decades past the events of Nazi Germany. Munich was taking its first step back onto the world stage by hosting the games.
Peter Sarsgaard (The Batman, Black Mass) is excellent as famed ABC producer Roone Arlidge. John Magaro (Past Lives) matches him as Geoffrey Mason, thrown into the manage the main broadcast desk for the first time, just before the first shots are fired.
Ben Chaplin (The Legend of Tarzan) is powerful as Marvin Bader, caught in the middle as his sports broadcasting team is thrust into a global political battle, outside their everyday realm. Georgine Rich also stands out as a German interpreter who becomes a key piece of the ABC team.
The recreation of the time is impressive. The Olympic games are moving well, with Mark Spitz dominating for the Americans in the pool and plenty of feel good stories. Gunfire explodes in the Olympic village as the terrorists burst into the rooms of the Israeli team, killing one and holding the rest hostage.
All of the live video footage of the terrorists and the studio presentation and interviews is the original footage as broadcast by ABC during the crisis, taken directly from the network's archives.
Fehlbaum wraps all that actual footage with powerful moments that leap outside the studio. Helicopters vital to the event thunder just over the newsroom and they run outside to see them flying overhead.
There's a moment when they realize that their rooftop provides a perfect view of the Israeli compound.
Kudos to the great Benjamin Walker (Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter) who nails his role as Peter Jennings. He nails that voice we all know and makes your heart pound when you hear the actual voice archives of Jennings positioned less than 150 yards away from the terrorists in an adjoining building.
The film gives off serious vibes of Spielberg's brilliant film "Munich", which serves as a superb sequel to this film. I HAVE to watch these two back-to-back sometime, that would be amazing.
I also saw a direct tie to John Frankenheimer's film "Black Sunday", which savvy movie buffs may see as well when the film focuses on the leader of the terrorist group. Email me if you see it, too!
This is a great film and will be hard to top as one of the best thrillers of 2025.
Lorenz Dangel's music score is excellent. Always sitting just beneath the surface of the visuals, it compliments the action without overpowering it.
Taut, thrilling and emotionally powerful, SEPTEMBER 5 gets an A+.
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