September 5

September 5 is a dramatization of the events surrounding ABC Sports coverage of the Israeli hostage crisis at the 1972 Munich Games. Directed by Tim Fehlbaum, the film features a fine cast headlined by Peter Sarsgaard as Roone Arledge, head of ABC Sports during the hostage situation. Leonie Benesch, well received in The Teacher’s Lounge, here plays Marianne Gebhart, a German translator who works for ABC during the crisis. Being a telling of true events, there is at times a hesitation, seemingly, to dig deep. The film teases a greater examination of various ethical and moral implications surrounding the coverage, but never goes beyond the surface.

Courtesy Paramount Pictures

There are homages to other films, but it all feels more like pastiche from better works, namely those of Michael Mann and Paul Greengrass. The film relies on a lot of tight close-ups, loose camera movements and quick editing, backed by a throbbing, pulsing score that is meant to raise ones blood pressure. Yet, this is not United 93 or The Insider, both of which did a far better job handling a true story. The failure of this film is in how especially boring something of this magnitude often comes across. For a film to be 95 minutes in length yet seem as though it were well over two hours, is a bad sign indeed.

The integration of news footage is seamless, yet only serves to distance the audience. The real footage is much more profound and immediate than what is otherwise on the screen, to the point that footage of Jim McKay, along with archival audio of Peter Jennings turn in more compelling “performances” than the rest of the cast. Roone Arledge, an intense Sarsgaard, and Marrianne, played by Benesch, are the most affecting performances.  When the film has a chance to do something special, they sideline both, in order to focus on what looks to be an epic failure by the film’s nominal lead character, a junior producer played by John Magaro, thrust into the spotlight. It is a failure of timid scripting and uninspired direction.

Courtesy Paramount Pictures

It is a shame that such a committed and excellent cast was wasted in a script that obviously meant well but could not pull itself together. This is a film that could have asked, as one character does, can we show someone being killed on live television, and also, were we responsible for what just happened? Other than simply asking those questions, they never truly have the characters grapple with what it would mean if they were, or ponder, in the brief period at the end, what their role in the results might be. The film seems to want the audience to consider this but gives us nothing to care about within the film other than these were real people calling the shots in the studio.

The greatest frustration here is not only untapped potential but broken promises, in the form of setup which never receives follow through. The film tries to evoke the sense of better movies through the cinematography and editing, but this only serves to make one wish they were watching the source material, or reading a lengthy book about the subject. This is not to say the film is without merit, because again, the cast is impeccable and they do miraculous work given a script that seems afraid to do anything of note with its immense and powerful setup.

Courtesy Paramount Pictures

Early on, there seems to be some hope, with Ben Chaplin’s Marvin Bader offering some perspective on how the events felt to those with personal connections, yet this goes nowhere. This is a film that has little point and counterpoint, and which needed to either more straight forwardly tell its story or simply have the strength of its convictions and go for an examination of the ethics and morals involved in media coverage of any live event. We never get to know the characters enough to care as much as we should. The result is one of the great what-if teases of the year.

September 5 is now playing in theaters.