Movie Scene: An ode to old-school journalism

Afilm which has flown a tad under the radar, ‘September 5’ garnered a sole Oscar nomination last week for Best Original Screenplay.

Anyone who remembers the wonderful ‘Munich’, which told the (alleged) true aftermath of the assassination of Israeli athletes at the 1972 Olympics will be somewhat aware of the events surrounding ‘September 5’ a film which, in my view, is just as brilliant as Spielberg’s.

It’s the 20th Olympiad and American broadcasters ABC have a crew on the ground covering events. As the crew prepares for another day, gunshots ring out in the Olympic village and, what should be another day of sporting endeavour becomes one of the most watched televisual broadcasts in the history of broadcasting.

A powerful ode to old-school journalism, ‘September 5’ is a great film.

Less about the events unfolding on television screens across the globe, it focuses on the individuals who spent hours in a stuffy control room working to bring those pictures to the masses.

From the moments gunshots ring out, the race is on to ascertain what is happening, how it’s happening and how the ABC crew can cover it. The script, co-written by director Tim Fehlbaum, Moritz Binder and Alex David retains events in the Olympic village and keeps the politics at arm’s length, save from the excellently-interspersed actual footage from the original ABC broadcast which details the ongoing tragedy and the games themselves. We have people in rolled-up shirt sleeves, bad ties and rooms filled with whirls of cigarette smoke, as people debate how best to cover the tragedy.

You have ABC sports director Roon Arlege (Peter Saarsgard) in a telephonic back-and-forth with headquarters, insisting the sports division are keeping the story. You have green sports director Geoffrey Mason (John Magaro) doing his best to corral the newsroom. There’s also German translator Marianne (Leonie Benesch) and Marvin Bader (an almost unrecognisable Ben Chaplin) trying to temper his colleagues’ enthusiasm for the story by warning them of the dangers of what they can show. Conversations range from practical to moralistic.

On the one hand you have people asking if a camera can be wheeled outside to capture on-the -spot pictures, or if it’s possible to smuggle a camera into the village – or even if they’re allowed to show someone being killed live on air if it happens.

‘September 5’ goes from ‘what is the story’ to ‘how can we tell the story’ to ‘what are the implications of the coverage’, all the while flitting through each twist and turn where split-second decisions are made in alarming immediacy, sometimes to the crew’s detriment.

Adding to the idea of a newsroom under pressure is cinematographer Markus Foderer’s use of handheld cameras and stripped-back, verite-style 16mm visuals emphasising the already cramped confinement of the control room.

Excellently acted and completely compelling, ‘September 5’ is study of old-school journalism that begs to be seen.