The brilliance of this film is that even if you know the story of the 1972 Munich Olympics siege and its inevitable ending, ‘September 5’ will still keep you on the edge of your seat, for all of its 91 minutes duration.

How do you tell a story everyone knows without making it a repetitive, seen-it-already effort? Brilliantly for one, if you’re Swiss filmmaker Tim Fehlbaum. You surround yourself with an equally brilliant group of stars consisting of Peter Sarsgaard, John Magaro, Ben Chaplin — but also crucially German thespian Leonie Benesch of The Teacher’s Lounge fame. You also build a set which is the exact replica of the space occupied by the ABC Sports team, in Munich that infamous September 5th to cover the Olympics. This thanks to existing blueprints of the space and yet another brilliant participant, production designer Julian R. Wagner.

More dashes of brilliance come in the form of additional cast, one notable is the wondrously understated French Algerian actor Zinedine Soualem, famously the father of French-Algerian-Palestinian filmmaker Lina Soualem. You also mix into the film’s formula cinematographer Markus Förderer, who puts the audience in the crew’s seats, almost literally and thus creates within the viewer a sense of urgency coupled with claustrophobia. To tie it all up, the brilliant editing of Hansjörg Weißbrich, of Unorthodox the series fame, ties the loose ends and makes September 5 the breakout success of the year.

Because above and beyond this collective brilliance, September 5 is the small film that could. It entered Venice as an indie-made gem, world premiering in the non-juried section of Orizzonti Extra, meaning out of competition basically, and quickly grew in momentum, acquiring Paramount Pictures as a distributor and, lately, securing a serious contender’s place to the awards races ahead.

To those who didn’t pick the film for their festival’s line ups because it was controversial to talk about the Palestinian terrorists attacks in Munich at a time when the Israeli government is perpetrating its own attacks, I say you were wrong not to. Conversations and controversy are always necessary, in equal doses, at times of crisis. And we find ourselves at the proverbial end of our rope here, as far as the entire Middle East in concerned. So talk, discuss, shout at each other even, but communicate and help mediate. And if a film aids in that, program it in your film festivals. Those of us with a bit of streetwise wisdom know that both sides are not made of martyrs and sinners alone. That’s not how real life works. There is always a mix of both, in every culture and in each of us, depending on the day.

The story of how an American sports broadcasting crew, ABC Sports, find themselves suddenly thrust into covering the hostage crisis involving Israeli athletes at the 1972 Munich Olympics is at the center of September 5. While in the Steven Spielberg 2005 film Munich we followed the military and intelligence researching the terrorists’ act, in Fehlbaum’s quick paced film we are in the control room with the television crew, as the attack happens. We follow their anguish, their doubts and also how they collectively stand up to the network in their pursuit of a story. “It all started with the research,” Fehlbaum humbly admitted, during a press conference for Golden Globes voters and critics, live from LA. “We learned early on that on that day the media played a really important role,” he continued. Finding Geoffrey Mason, an eyewitness to the crisis and a celebrated TV producer, and the character actor John Magaro plays in the film, was crucial to forming the story.

Fehlbaum also confessed to a “personal connection,” to the story, “as someone in the media.” All of us feel it, also as viewers, and human beings. Peter Sarsgaard talked about the responsibility the crew felt while on the ground during such an event, watching it unfold before their very eyes, and deciding then and there what was appropriate to show and talk about. “Part of being a journalist is an accumulation of facts and leaving the analysis for later,” Sarsgaard declared.

While all the parts are played by actors in the film, including Benjamin Walker as star US newscaster Peter Jennings, Jim McKay’s segments are archival footage of the sportscaster. “It’s the real Jim McKay on the monitor,” Sarsgaard confirmed, then joked that McKay was the real star in a film which felt like an ensemble piece to the cast and crew, “he was first on the call sheet, and the best actor in the movie!” Ben Chaplin described the feeling among the cast members as being that of “shipmates, like in the theater.”

John Magaro’s words were of kindness to his audience, when asked about the film now being a major studio project. “This is an independent film, we just happened to get bought by a big studio — I love independent cinema that is my thing.” Magaro continued, “I trust audiences and I trust indie film audiences, they have the passion to see when the heart [of a film] is in the right place. “

Sarsgaard also explained the 180º turnaround of the quality of news coverage in today’s world. “News in a world that is capitalistic depends on viewers and the thing that gets the most eyes is the most sensationalist,” the actor pointed out, continuing. “It has changed our society the fact that news is commodified. My dad told me “only watch news on PBS, because they don’t depend on advertising.” News is boring. But we expect entertainment from our news now.”

September 5 succeeds because it helps us to ask a basic question, which Chaplin posed rhetorically. “To what degree the coverage changes the real world?” He did admit that the news changed the outcome of situations like the Munich siege, and that’s certainly true nowadays with the Russian/Ukraine war and the crisis in Palestine/Israel.

Ultimately, the film reminded me of something my Italian grandfather often said “da carcerato, carceriere,” a Neapolitan saying which translates to “from prisoner to jailer,” meaning that those who once were victims can easily become the perpetrators. Even though Fehlbaum confirmed that September 5 was in post-production when the events of October 7th unraveled in southern Israel, the film cannot be separated from those events, as parallels are drawn between that intrusion by Hamas and the Black September gang’s siege in Munich. And how easily the lines, which are drawn by those who like to view the world in black and white, can be crossed — in this case, the lines between victims and perpetrators.

Because any type of trauma causes reverberating effects, which last for the entirety of our world’s history.

Famous last words, very aptly, belong to Magaro, who plays Jeffrey Mason in the film. “I can still feel that scar on his body from that day,” the American actor admitted about Mason, who was well involved in the production of September 5. “Once that clock started ticking there was no time to think,” Magaro continued and “like Peter said, analyzing came later — I think we are still analyzing that day today, with this film.”

September 5 will be released by Paramount Pictures in the US in select theaters on November 29th, with a wider release on December 13th. In the UK, the film will hit theaters on January 24th of next year.

Images courtesy of Paramount Pictures, used with permission.