When I saw The “Fifth of September” on the movie theater schedule, I didn’t pay it any attention — I hadn’t heard a single thing about the film and my immediate association was that it was something odd and uninteresting to me. Strange conclusion, I know, but it happens. Anyway, thanks to a friend who brought the film to my attention, I ended up watching the trailer.
Long story short, folks, this is basically a “The Newsroom” special. If that means anything to you, just add it to your backlog and wait for the chance to watch it!
The story is, unsurprisingly, about September 5th, 1972, during the Munich Olympics. That day saw several major events collide: first, terrorists took the Israeli weightlifting team hostage right in the Olympic Village, and second, technological progress ushered in the era of live broadcasts. The movie is just an hour and a half long, packing all the events so tightly that there’s simply no room for boredom. The result is a tense story about the work of reporters and Germany’s critical organizational failures during those games. There’s even a joke about bureaucracy! Highly recommend!