33/35
I had the privilege of seeing this excellent film at the AFI Film Festival
Line of Events
During the 1972 Munich Olympics, an American sports broadcast team is forced to cover the Israeli athletes’ hostage crisis. The film is set in the ABC control room at the 1972 Olympics in Munich.
The film also shows in detail how technology that was considered cutting-edge at the time but seems amusingly primitive today (eg
It realistically depicts both the routine aspects of the control room during the event and then, of course, the tragic events of Black September against the Israeli athletes. In the control room are ABC Sports president Roone Arledge (Peter Sarsgaard), budding producer Geoffrey Mason (John Magaro), vice president of Olympic communications Marvin Bader (Ben Chaplin), and German interpreter Marianne Gebhardt (Leonie Benesch), all of whom are excellent in their roles.
giant VTRs, competing for satellite space, manually adding graphics, etc)
But the key to any thriller is Tim Fehlbaum’s writing and direction, which keeps you on the edge of your seat throughout the film. The realism is enhanced by the use of archival footage from Jim McKay’s report on the tragedy.
But that spark certainly doesn’t stop me from recommending this excellent film – it’s a must-see!
My only minor quibble is with the casting of Benjamin Walker as Peter Jennings – he doesn’t seem quite right to play the handsome and elegant anchorman I remember (I probably would have cut his character and just relied on the tape of Jennings’ speech from the Olympic Village).