Nostalgists love to talk about returning to ‘simpler’ times. But as Tim Fehlbaum’s riveting September 5 reminds us, humans have always found new ways to fuck things up.
Taking a big step back thematically – and forward artistically – from his 2021 dystopian fantasy The Colony (aka Tides), the Swiss director keeps things ultra-taut in his media drama: most of the movie takes place in an airless control room. And we can feel the rising panic just as palpably as we smell the stale coffee.
When the action begins, a jokey ABC Sports team is gearing up for a day of volleyball coverage at the 1972 Munich Olympics. Young producer Geoff (Past Lives’ John Magaro) is handling oversight while his bosses grab some much-needed rest. Then word comes in: the Palestinian terrorist group Black September has taken the Israeli team hostage.
Fehlbaum knows that audiences may have seen this story before – if not live, than via Steven Spielberg’s biopic Munich or Kevin Macdonald’s doc One Day in September. So he narrows in, while simultaneously keeping an eye on a bigger picture.
Glory to every director who sacrifices ego for a precise, 94-minute cut
Cinematographer Markus Förderer’s camera stays tight on this tiny team, which also consists of Geoff’s tense manager Marvin (Ben Chaplin), overlooked translator Marianne (Babylon Berlin’s Leonie Benesch), and top dog producer Roone Arledge (Peter Sarsgaard). It’s a mind-scramble, today, to watch people make such impactful decisions with so few resources. They’re the only ones who know what’s happening, and who can share it with the world. So they have to sneak a staffer (Daniel Adeosun) into the Olympic village disguised as an athlete, while communicating via clunky headsets and staticky walkie-talkies. But what do they do once they’ve secured their exclusive info? Show the action live? Report whatever they hear? Or wait until they’ve established all the facts and contacted the hostages’ families?
A sharp script from Fehlbaum and Moritz Binder ensures that we’re well aware of the layers built into each stressful decision. These guys talk nonstop about the nobility of media, and their moral duty to inform the audience. But we can’t help wondering whether Geoff anticipates a big promotion if he gets this right. Surely some small part of Arledge is thinking about his legacy. And do they all suspect their choices will impact the way breaking news is reported forevermore?
Thanks also to meticulous production design and outstanding editing – glory to every director who sacrifices ego for a precise, 94-minute cut – thoughts of modern technology, social media, and contemporary politics are both pushed aside and ever-present in our minds. More often than not, September 5 feels like a great 1970s thriller that could only have been made in the 21st century.
In US theaters Dec 13, and UK cinemas Jan 24, 2025