Summary
The documentary begins with an advertisement by the Munich Tourism Bureau with a beautiful young girl inviting the world to visit the city for the Olympics, then shows interviews with the wives of some of the murdered athletes, including Ankie Spitzer, widow of fencing coach Andre Spitzer. The film also features the first known filmed interview with Jamal Al-Gashey, a surviving terrorist. Al-Gashey, who is in hiding in Africa, wears a cap and sunglasses and his face is slightly blurred.
There are various shots of the Games getting under way, and attention is given to the lax security the Germans had at the Games. The terrorists are seen preparing for the assault; Al-Gashey claims that he and the other members were trained in Libya before going to West Germany to begin the assault.
The assault is described by Al-Gashey as well as by some of the German security staff present. Footage of ABC anchor Jim McKay is interspersed, along with sound clips of Peter Jennings, to give an impression of events unfolding as they happened. General Ulrich Wegener, founder of the German counter-terrorist unit GSG 9, was also interviewed during the film, and was roundly criticized for his seemingly flippant attitude about the subject matter.
The film offers evidence supporting the allegation that the rescue operation was poorly planned and executed; for instance, the German police aboard the getaway aeroplane voted to abandon their mission without consulting the central command, while the snipers were not prepared and were poorly positioned. The film implies that had the German government prepared better, the athletes might have been saved. Former Mossad Director Zvi Zamir, who was present at the airport during the final gunfight, is interviewed about his views on the failed rescue (he had previously been interviewed on this subject in an NBC profile of the Munich massacre broadcast during the Barcelona Olympics). At the end of the section, graphic photographs of the dead Israelis and Palestinians are shown in a photo-montage set to the Deep Purple song "Child in Time".
The film also alleges that the 29 October hijacking of a Lufthansa jet and the subsequent release of the three surviving Black September members in exchange for the hostages was a set-up by the German government, who did not want their failings to be made obvious in the trial.
Concerns about screenings for Academy Awards
Roger Ebert continued his criticisms after the film received an Academy Award, [4] claiming that the producer, Arthur Cohn, intentionally subverts the Academy's documentary and foreign film by-laws – which dictate that only members who have seen all nominated films may vote – by limiting screenings of his films to a small group of invited people; "by limiting those who have seen his, Cohn shrinks the voting pool and improves his odds." [3]
Joe Berlinger, director of the documentaries Brother's Keeper and Paradise Lost, joined Ebert in criticizing Arthur Cohn's method of screening his films, but stressed that the problem is the Academy by-laws: "Until there is a documentary branch of the Academy that treats docs like any other film in any other category, nothing will change, despite the recent band-aid attempt to improve the situation." [5]
The Munich massacre was a terrorist attack carried out during the 1972 Summer Olympics in Munich, West Germany, by eight members of the Palestinian militant organization Black September, who infiltrated the Olympic Village, killed two members of the Israeli Olympic team, and took nine others hostage. Black September called the operation "Iqrit and Biram", after two Palestinian Christian villages whose inhabitants were expelled by the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) during the 1948 Arab–Israeli War. The Black September commander was Luttif Afif, who was also their negotiator. West German neo-Nazis gave the group logistical assistance.
The Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature Film is an award for documentary films. In 1941, the first awards for feature-length documentaries were bestowed as Special Awards to Kukan and Target for Tonight. They have since been bestowed competitively each year, with the exception of 1946. Copies of every winning film are held by the Academy Film Archive.
The 1972 Summer Olympics, officially known as the Games of the XX Olympiad and commonly known as Munich 1972, was an international multi-sport event held in Munich, West Germany, from 26 August to 11 September 1972.
Kevin Macdonald is a Scottish director. His films include One Day in September (1999), a documentary about the 1972 murder of 11 Israeli athletes, which won him the Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature, the climbing documentary Touching the Void (2003), the drama The Last King of Scotland (2006), the political thriller State of Play (2009), the Bob Marley documentary Marley (2012), the post-apocalyptic drama How I Live Now (2013), the thriller Black Sea (2014), the Whitney Houston documentary Whitney (2018), and the legal drama film The Mauritanian (2021).
Munich is a 2005 epic historical drama film produced and directed by Steven Spielberg, co-written by Tony Kushner and Eric Roth. It is based on the 1984 book Vengeance by George Jonas, an account of Mossad assassinations following the Munich massacre.
Operation Bayonet was a covert operation directed by Mossad to assassinate individuals they accused of being involved in the 1972 Munich massacre. The targets were members of the Palestinian armed militant group Black September and operatives of the Palestine Liberation Organisation (PLO). Authorised by Israeli Prime Minister Golda Meir in the autumn of 1972, the operation is believed to have continued for over twenty years. While Mossad killed several prominent Palestinians during the operation, they never managed to kill the mastermind behind Munich, namely Abu Daoud.
Jamal Al-Gashey is a Palestinian militant who was a member of the Black September offshoot of the Palestine Liberation Organization and one of eight militants who carried out the massacre of eleven Israeli athletes during the 1972 Summer Olympics. He is visible several times in videos of the event, identifiable by his blue- and white-striped jacket. During the failed rescue attempt by Bavarian border guards and Munich police, which resulted in the deaths of nine hostages and five of the Black September militants, Al-Gashey was shot in the wrist attempting to aid a fellow Black September member.
Luttif Afif was a Palestinian terrorist. He commanded the eight-member attack team that carried out the Munich massacre, an invasion of the Munich Olympic Village on 5 September 1972. During the incident, nine members of Israel's Olympic team were taken hostage after two others, who had offered resistance, were shot dead. Afif was the chief negotiator on behalf of the Palestinians, who were members of the Black September offshoot of Yassir Arafat's Palestine Liberation Organization. Afif and four of his compatriots were later killed by German snipers at Fürstenfeldbruck air base outside Munich.
Israel competed at the 1972 Summer Olympics in Munich, West Germany, which began on August 26. On September 5 and 6, in the Munich massacre, 11 members of the Israeli delegation—5 athletes, 2 referees, and 4 coaches —were taken hostage by Palestine Liberation Organization terrorists and murdered. The remainder of the team left Munich on September 7.
Andre Spitzer was an Israeli fencing master and coach of Israel's 1972 Summer Olympics team. He was one of 11 athletes and coaches taken hostage and subsequently killed by terrorists in the Munich massacre.
Mohammad Daoud Oudeh, commonly known by his nom de guerre Abu Daoud or Abu Dawud was a Palestinian militant, teacher and lawyer known as the planner, architect and mastermind of the Munich massacre. He served in a number of commanding functions in Fatah's armed units in Lebanon and Jordan.
Zvi Zamir born Zvicka Zarzevsky is a former major general in the Israel Defense Forces and the director of the Mossad from 1968 to 1974. He is currently retired and lives in Israel.
Yossef Romano, also known as Joseph Romano or Yossi Romano, was a Libyan-born Israeli weightlifter with the Israeli team that went to the 1972 Summer Olympics in Munich, West Germany. He was the second of eleven Israeli team members killed in the Munich massacre by Palestinian members of Black September during that Olympics. He was the Israeli weight-lifting champion in the light and middle-weight divisions for nine years.
Kehat Shorr was the shooting coach for the 1972 Israeli Olympic team. He was one of the 11 members of Israel's Olympic team killed in the Munich massacre.
Chariots of the Gods is a 1970 West German documentary film directed by Harald Reinl. It is based on Erich von Däniken's book Chariots of the Gods?, a pseudoscientific book that theorizes extraterrestrials impacted early human life and evolution. The film was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature.
The 2012 Olympics one minute of silence campaign refers to an international campaign created to persuade the International Olympic Committee (IOC) to hold one minute of silence at the opening ceremony of the 2012 London Olympics to remember the Israeli athletes killed in the Munich massacre at the 1972 Olympics by the Palestinian terrorist organisation Black September. Support for the campaign came from a number of high-ranking officials and governments, including the United States Congress, U.S. President Barack Obama, U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, U.S. Republican Party presidential candidate Mitt Romney, the Italian Parliament, the Australian Parliament, the Canadian Parliament, the German Parliament, and German Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle.
The hijacking of Lufthansa Flight 615 was an aircraft hijacking that occurred on 29 October 1972 and aimed at the liberation of the three surviving perpetrators of the Munich massacre from a West German prison.
Yusuf Nazzal was the second-in-command of eight members of the Palestinian Black September Organisation that invaded 31 Connollystraße in the Munich Olympic Village on 5 September 1972, and took nine members of the Israeli Olympic team hostage after two members, weightlifter Yossef Romano and wrestling coach Moshe Weinberg, were killed in the initial takeover. Television images broadcast during the hostage crisis show Nazzal frequently, seemingly always smoking, wearing sunglasses, an open-neck red shirt, and a cowboy hat, which led him to be identified as the 'Cowboy'. According to author Serge Groussard, Nazzal "liked to be called Guevara".
Adnan Al-Gashey was a Palestinian militant and one of eight Black September Organization militants who invaded the Israeli quarters at the Munich Olympic Village during the 1972 Summer Olympics. The group took hostage nine of the Israeli Olympic delegation after killing Israeli wrestling coach Moshe Weinberg and weightlifter Yossef Romano in the initial takeover. He was the uncle of Jamal Al-Gashey, who also took part in the Munich operation.
Mohammed Safady is a Palestinian militant and one of eight Black September members who perpetrated the Munich massacre, in which they invaded the Israeli quarters at the Munich Olympic Village during the 1972 Munich Olympic Games, taking hostage nine of the Israeli Olympic delegation after killing Israeli wrestling coach Moshe Weinberg and weightlifter Yossef Romano in the initial takeover.
