Plot
During the 1972 Summer Olympics in Munich, the ABC Sports crew presides over the coverage of the spirited and relatively uneventful Games. When Mark Spitz wins gold in the swimming event over a West German competitor, ABC Sports president Roone Arledge dramatizes the win by cutting to his competitor's reaction and planning to introduce the subjects of the Holocaust and Nazi Germany during a live interview with the Jewish Spitz. When Marvin Bader, the head of operations, questions the decision, Arledge reminds him of the importance of emphasizing emotions over politics to make an effective broadcast.
During the night, gunshots are heard in the distance. The crew listens to police broadcasts, aided by Marianne, the crew's local translator, and gradually learn that a terrorist attack is occurring: The terrorist group Black September has broken into the apartment housing the Israeli team and taken the athletes hostage, demanding the release of hundreds of Palestinian terrorist prisoners. Seeing an opportunity for a compelling story, Geoffrey Mason, the head of the control room, quickly organizes the crew to pivot to cover the hostage crisis instead. Along with Arledge, he takes pragmatic steps to turn the story into a gripping sensation, negotiating more advantageous time slots and even forging identification so that a crewmember can access the now-restricted Olympic village. Although most of the crew is enthusiastic and confident that the conflict will be resolved quickly and successfully, a dismayed Bader reminds Mason and Arledge that the lives of real people are at stake and warns them of the potential impact on the terrorists' narrative.
Throughout the day, the crisis worsens due to failed negotiations and mistakes from an unprepared local police force. Countless news stations jockey for the latest news and glimpses of the standoff, inciting Mason to become more competitive in covering the story. At one point, the crew realizes that the terrorists are watching their program, which ruins an attempted rescue. Law enforcement officers storm the control room and threaten the crew at gunpoint to turn off the broadcast, but Mason ultimately refuses. The terrorists are eventually transported with their hostages to the military airport of Fürstenfeldbruck, and Mason sends Marianne there for coverage, cynically including sound equipment in case a shootout takes place.
Marianne, at the airport with other news crews, reports to Mason that the hostages are rumored to be free, which is apparently confirmed by ZDF. Bader implores Mason to hold off on reporting until the information is confirmed, as the other stations will follow suit, but Mason is unwilling to lose the scoop and has the news announced, albeit with the caveat that the station qualifies its report by stating that the unconfirmed developments are what is currently being reported from its sources. Bader is furious but is pacified when Mason soon receives an official fax from German chancellor confirming the group's rescue. As the crew celebrates and Mason pivots to planning interviews with the survivors, Bader leaves to celebrate with Arledge. As he watches a live, televised ABC interview with Conrad Ahlers, acting as a spokesperson for the German government, Ahlers speaks of the resolution to the crisis in an optimistic future tense. Realizing that the reports the studio received were all incorrect, a horrified Bader contacts an inside source and learns that the rescue attempt failed and all the hostages were in fact murdered.
Sobered, Mason has Jim McKay correct the live broadcast. Arledge nevertheless commends him for an excellent job, while Marianne mourns that yet more innocent lives were lost on German soil, and she and countless other reporters had been at the airport, focused only on getting a scoop while lives were being lost. The crew heads home, and after closing up, Mason lingers to view the studio's bulletin board featuring photos of the victims.
A closing title card reveals that the event was the first time a terrorist attack had been broadcast on live television and was viewed by an audience of approximately 900 million, making it one of the most viewed broadcasts in history.
Release
The film premiered on 29 August 2024, as the opening film at the 81st Venice International Film Festival in the OrizzontiExtra section. [8] A few days before being announced as part of the Venice slate, Paramount Pictures' Republic Pictures acquired worldwide sales rights outside Germany, Austria and Switzerland to the film. Following an overwhelmingly positive response at Venice and Telluride, Paramount decided it was best to keep the film with them, with the main studio opting to officially acquire distribution rights. Scott Feinberg of The Hollywood Reporter speculated that the Toronto International Film Festival rejected the film "ostensibly because it might generate controversy related to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict", despite screening the documentary Russians at War , whose portrayal of the Russian invasion of Ukraine "did result in protests of such a scale that the fest ended up pulling the film." [9]
It was featured in the Limelight section of the 54th International Film Festival Rotterdam to be screened in February 2025. [10]
Originally scheduling it for a wide release on 27 November 2024, Paramount later pivoted to a limited theatrical release on 29 November, expanding wide two weeks later on 13 December. [11] [12] It was shifted again to a limited release on 13 December 2024, before expanding on 17 January 2025, [13] with plans to expand further for early February. [14] The film was released in German theatres on 9 January 2025 by Constantin Film. [15] The film was released digitally on February the 4th with the Blu-ray release being scheduled for the 18th of the same month. [16]
Reception
On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes , 93% of 184 critics' reviews are positive, with an average rating of 7.7/10.The website's consensus reads: "Capturing the compromises, dedication, and human fallibility of the newsroom, September 5 is a worthy chronicle of a tragic flashpoint in broadcast media history." [17] Metacritic , which uses a weighted average , assigned the film a score of 76 out of 100, based on 38 critics, indicating "generally favorable" reviews. [18]
Director and editor William Goldenberg listed September 5 as one of his favorite movies of 2024. [19]
