Review: September 5

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Official synopsis: During the 1972 Summer Olympics in Munich, Germany, an American sports broadcasting team must adapt to live coverage of the Israeli athletes being held hostage by a terrorist group.

This is the last big Oscar movie I had to see (and thankfully I did get to it before the ceremony...just late on writing reviews) and I'm glad to have ended on a solid note. September 5 is not the showiest film of the bunch, but it's certainly worthy of its Original Screenplay nod.

I already like broadcast/journalism movies to begin with, so this was always going to be up my alley. The entire film takes place in their broadcast room. It's cold and dark. At one point they go outside and the daylight just seems like it's intruding. It's pretty remarkable what this team accomplished considering they normally focus on sports. They ushered in a new way of watching breaking news. This isn't lost on them, and the conversations they have with each other raise all the important questions. 

John Magaro and Peter Sarsgaard lead the way as the producers in charge. Leonie Benesch was my favorite character as Marianne, the German translator who is integral to them getting ahead of all the different information out there.

I have to wonder how this film would've done commercially if it wasn't released during a time where Israel and Palestine are at war again. I don't even think this made it to theaters where I live. It feels like it's been a $20 VOD rental this entire time. It's now finally available to stream on Paramount Plus. 

September 5 won't go into detail about this terrorist attack. It's solely about how this team reported it. That may not work for some people, there might be some required reading after the fact, but if you're already familiar with what happened and want to see it from a different point of view, this is worth the watch.

Grade: B

Comments

  1. thevoid99March 6, 2025 at 2:02 PM

    I am interested in seeing this mainly for historical reasons as I know the story about what happened in Munich yet the fact that the story is in this film is told through the perspective of people covering the news makes it really interesting.

    ReplyDelete
  2. AnonymousMarch 6, 2025 at 10:05 PM

    Great review! I really enjoyed this picture and, even though I was only 8 yrs old when this happened, I won’t forget how scary it was and I will never forget Jim McKay’s style which was professional, just the facts and elegant in a strange way. It was so very sad and the issues are as strong as ever. I don’t think it deserved an Oscar nom for Best picture but there are up to 10 nominees now so, ok.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Brittani BurnhamMarch 11, 2025 at 8:02 AM

      Yeah, I think it's screenplay nomination was a worthy place for it. I was expecting it to land on my Top 10, which is why I haven't written it yet, but it missed. Still, good film.

      Delete
  3. keith71_98March 11, 2025 at 8:58 AM

    I really, really liked this one. It got its hooks in me early and kept me absorbed. There is such a striking level of detail that really kinda blew me away.

    ReplyDelete

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