Cinema is a powerful artistic medium.  We can step into multiple pairs of shoes and see events from differing perspectives.  Letters from Iwo Jima chronicled a famous World War II battle from the side of the Japanese whereas Flags of Our Fathers depicted an American military viewpoint.  World Trade Centre was focused on police officers caught up in the 9/11 terrorist attacks while United 93 recounted experiences of hijacked passengers and air traffic controllers.

The massacre of Israeli athletes at the 1972 Summer Olympics has been covered in a series of affecting films including One Day in September, a 1999 Academy Award winning documentary from Kevin Macdonald, and Munich, a 2005 Steven Spielberg-helmed drama about undercover Jewish agents seeking revenge against Palestinian operatives.  September 5 takes us back to that fateful day but this time, the perspective is solely from a small group of ABC sports journalists couped up inside their tiny studio.

I like the approach as the film serves as a homage to old-school media.  If you think live television is challenging in the current day, wait until you see what they faced in 1972.  There were no handheld cameras, no mobile phones, no Wi-Fi connections, and just a single satellite to be shared amongst all of America’s networks.  I don’t want to give too much away but you’ll be stunned by the lengths the ABC crew went to, with zero preparation, to broadcast the quickly unfolding events with limited technology.  It was the first terrorist attack to ever be shown live on television.

Director Tim Fehlbaum gets creative with storytelling.  An accomplished group of actors bring the script’s pages to life but when it comes to the casting of Jim McKay, who was the on-camera anchor throughout the attack, Fehlbaum uses archival footage.  It adds a layer of authenticity which makes everything around it feel more credible.  While McKay speaks the world, the ABC team scramble behind the scenes in working out what to say and what to show.  Expertise was lacking given their background was sports and not current affairs.

It’s equally relevant today but another of the film’s key themes is truth and journalistic integrity. ABC were the only media outlet covering events as they happened on TV and with that, came a heightened responsibility to be accurate in their reporting.  As the situation became more chaotic, the line separating confirmed facts from speculative hearsay was blurred beyond recognition.  Making fast decisions under immense pressure is fraught with danger.

Nominated at the Producer’s Guild Awards as one of the top 10 movies of the year, and earning an Oscar nod for best adapted screenplay, September 5 is a gritty, interesting, well-made film.  It’s a story worth telling.