‘September 5’ Movie Review [AFI Fest 2024]: A Claustrophobic Thriller Engages In Journalism Ethics Over Politics

Photo from Paramount Pictures

From Jeff Nelson

The Israeli-Palestinian conflict is a critical one that shouldn’t be swept under the rug. Tim Fehlbaum’s September 5 recounts a significant historical moment that reflects far heavier on its television journalism roots than its political one. It’s more focused on shredding your nerves through palpable tension, rather than stimulating the brain or appealing to the heart on its timely subject matter.

During the 1972 Munich Olympics, gunshots ring out in the Olympic Village. An ABC Sports crew steps up to cover the breaking news of a Palestinian terrorist group Black September taking the Israeli Olympic team hostage.

ABC Sports advertised its 24/7 round-the-clock coverage for the 1972 Olympics, broadcasting a nonstop feed of the latest worldwide athleticism at the Munich Olympics. Roone Arledge (Peter Sarsgaard) led the stressed television crew, who simultaneously felt the boiling tension underneath Germany’s attempt to change their international image after World War II. The hostage situation inspired the sports team to pivot into news, making ABC the first network to capture an act of terror live on the air. Of course, exploring uncharted territory came with roadblocks of its own.

Despite recent events between Israel and Palestine, September 5 isn’t interested in taking a stance (for better or worse). It’s a thriller set from the perspective of a television broadcast crew wrestling with logistics and journalism ethics. Geoffrey Mason (John Magaro) and Marvin Bader (Ben Chaplin) stepped up to the plate, questioning how to handle the unpredictable nature of live television. Do they broadcast a hostage execution in the event that one took place on camera? 

The screenplay Fehlbaum wrote with Alex David and Moritz Binder keeps the story in the news station for nearly the entire 91-minute runtime, steering clear of following Black September’s actions. German translator Marianne Gebhardt (Leonie Benesch) and volatile interactions with local police support the movie’s brimming tension, as they were forced to witness violence once again taking place on German soil. It echoed the country’s past in ways the Olympic Games were intended to make the world “forget and move on” from. Naturally, such a thing is not so simple.

Fehlbaum utilizes every minute of a short runtime to capitalize on tension, which also comes at the expense of characterizations. None of these broadcast television employees are fleshed out, removing personal stakes. However, the taut narrative is further amplified by a compelling ensemble cast that does a lot with very little on the page. Magaro’s Mason is the key to maintaining the film’s dynamic suspense and he succeeds in doing so. Benesch is a notable standout as Gebhardt, consistently drawing attention as a highlight. 

September 5 is a nail-biting pressure cooker that wields its historical conflict as the setting for a television broadcast journalism thriller, centering its tension around ethics and responsibility. Julian R. Wagner’s stellar production design traps the audience in a claustrophobic studio and Hansjörg Weißbrich brilliantly edits it all together with an electric flow. However, the detached characters are the price of the script’s focus on propulsive pacing, making it difficult to connect with them beyond the surface. Even though its focus isn’t on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, it teeters on its messaging. Based on its merits as a thriller, it does a number on the nerves.

Rating: 3.5/5

September 5 played at AFI Fest 2024 on October 26th, 2024. It hits select theaters on November 17th, 2024, before expanding on December 13th, 2024.

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