Sometimes politics creates a great story and sometimes politics gets in the way of a good story. September 5 is an example of both. This film is a compelling take on the horrific kidnapping and murder of the Israeli Olympic team during the 1972 games in Munich. It’s told from the point of view of the ABC Sports team covering the games and being thrust into covering a story for which they had no preparation or training. There have been movies and documentaries about this event in the past, most notably Steven Spielberg’s Munich, which was nominated for five Oscars twenty years ago, including Best Picture.
This was, unfortunately, the wrong year for this film to be Oscar-eligible. While it was nominated for Best Original Screenplay, this movie was certainly worthy of a Best Picture nod if the situation in Gaza wasn’t so polarizing. I don’t have any inside information about it. That’s my opinion based on how political the Academy has been in the past about what gets nominated and what doesn’t. September 5 was absolutely one of the best pictures of the year, but many in the Academy likely wanted to avoid the headaches that a Best Picture nomination would have delivered. Getting the Best Screenplay nomination feels a little like a consolation prize.
The Best Screenplay nomination was absolutely valid
With a brisk running time of an hour and thirty-five minutes, the screenplay gives a tight story that is the flip side of Saturday Night. Both films are about momentous moments in television history from the 70s and tell the behind-the-scenes moments of those events. Whereas Saturday Night is frenetic, chaotic, uproarious, and irreverent, September 5 is measured, respectful, and intense. The circumstances surrounding both events are obviously polar opposite from each other, and both films handled the material appropriately.
The screenplay for September 5 does much more than just a portrayal of the events. This is a deep and layered script that is about prejudice and all the forms and levels it comes in. We see examples of sexism, misogyny, and national prejudice. The script also has deep thematic components about overcoming inexperience and unprepared people being thrust into situations they’re not ready for. Not only was the Olympics TV crew not ready to cover a hard news story, but the German authorities were also completely unprepared to prevent this attack from happening and they were unprepared to do anything about it once the wheels were in motion. The screenplay shows both of those issues brilliantly.
The screenplay meticulously shows characters struggling and overcoming these challenges to various degrees of success.
Another impressive thing about the screenplay for September 5 is the fact that screenwriters Moritz Binder, Tim Fehlbaum, and Alex David were able to take true events and craft them into a screenplay with a tight story structure and a clear Hero’s Journey. Shoe-horning real events into 3-Act dramatic structure is something many screenwriters struggle with, but this script is something that screenwriters attempting to write about real events should reference.
Warning! Spoilers
Here is a breakdown of the Hero’s Journey in September 5.
Act 1
Ordinary World – We see the crew signing off their Olympic coverage for the day. These are the first Olympics being broadcast around the world. It’s a big deal that the Olympics are in Germany less than 30 years after the end of WWII. Still, there are tensions between nationalities and races. Mark Spitz is the most famous athlete from the US, winning a record 9 medals at the games. ABC executives want to ask Mark Spitz about a Jew winning so many gold medals in Hitler’s backyard. We see them preparing for the next day’s broadcast.
Call to Adventure – We meet Geoffrey Mason (John Magaro), an inexperienced producer is put in charge of the control room. The hostage crisis begins. They call anchor Jim McKay to come in and send Peter Jennings (Benjamin Watkins) to the Olympic Village to try and get images. I love that all the footage of McKay is archival rather than having an actor play him.
Refusal – They hear there may be a hostage crisis involving the Israeli athletes, but they must wait for confirmation. Marvin Bader (Ben Chaplin) wants Mason to run the broadcast over the objections of Roone Alredge (Peter Sarsgaard).
Meeting the Mentor – Mason knows what they need to get a live shot of the apartment. He meets assistant Marianne Gebhardt (Leonie Benesch), who is a German citizen and is able to translate the German broadcasts. Roone struggles with the network to get access to the satellite for the timeslot they need, and they want the News Division to handle the story. Roome refuses to give it up.
Act 2
Crossing the First Threshold – Roone wants to find out who’s in the building and their backgrounds. They start getting information about the hostages.
Tests, Allies, and Enemies – They masquerade Gary, one of the crew, as an athlete so he can get into the village to get the film canister of footage of the terrorist on the balcony. Bader wants to know how many terrorists there are. Jennings says the terrorists are professionals and tells them to let News take over. Roone encourages the team that this is their story, and they are keeping it.
They prepare for the opening at 1 p.m. Gary gets the film to the developer. They get the iconic shot of the masked man on the balcony, and Mason says that’s the opener. They argue over what to show. Bader doesn’t want to show live in case someone gets shot. Roone says we follow where the story goes. Mason compromises to shoot it on 16mm, so they have time to make the call.
Approach – Jim McKay starts the broadcast. He announces what’s going on and then talks about the strange juxtaposition. We see more racism and sexism. They find out one of the Israeli coaches escaped, and they want to interview him.
Supreme Ordeal – McKay interviews Sakolski, but they lose the live feed to CBS. Assistant Editor Judy figures they can put the ABC logo on the feed so it can be on CBS but also get credit for it. The interview is emotional and humanizes everything.
The games are suspended. Police clear all press out of the village. Mason tells Jennings over the walkie-talkie that it’s happening and tells him to hide. Then tells him the police are about to make a move, and the police come in to tell them to stop the broadcast because the terrorists could be seeing it in the Israeli apartment.
Reward – They realize it’s local German police who are unprepared for this. Peter has received breaking information. The terrorists allow hostages to be seen. Roone tells them to turn the cameras back on, and they see Andrei Spitzer, the fencing coach, being held at gunpoint. They hear talk of them flying out of the country to Cairo.
The Road Back – Helicopters arrive to take terrorists and hostages to the airport. But there are too many people around. Howard Cosell sees the hostages getting on the bus. They watch the helicopter fly away. Mason tells Marianne to get to the airport.
Act 3
Resurrection – They tell Jennings to get back to the studio. They hear all hell has broken out at the airport, and there is shooting. Marianne sees a firefight at the airport. There is a rumor that the hostages are free. But they don’t get confirmation. Mason wants McKay to report the news but to say, “as we’re hearing.” Bader tells him it must be confirmed first. They think they get that confirmation, and McKay gives the report. They start celebrating. Roone and Bader watch an official getting interviewed and don’t like his tone or what he’s saying.
They start to get conflicting reports that there’s still shooting going on at the airport. Bader finds out the hostages are all dead. He tells Mason and Roone that he has confirmation. Marianne calls and confirms. McKay then gives the tragic news to the world.
Return with the Elixir – Mason meets with Marianne, and they comfort each other. She says Germany failed. Mason then meets with Roone, who wants Mason to be in charge of taping the commemoration, and Roone tells Maon he did a hell of a job. Mason says it was a catastrophe before walking to the control room and shutting everything down.
This is a story with rising drama and palpable tension.
September 5 is a tight screenplay with a clear Hero’s Journey and deep thematic components dealing with prejudice and the need to grow into crises you might not be ready for. This deep screenplay is very much worthy of its Best Original Screenplay nomination.