September 5 2024 WEBRip.DDP Magnet

24/20

The film takes place in the ABC control room in Munich for the 1972 Olympics

Story

During the 1972 Munich Olympics, an American sports broadcasting team is tasked with covering a hostage crisis involving Israeli athletes. It realistically depicts both the typical aspects of running a control room during an event and, of course, the tragic event of the Black September attack on Israeli athletes.

They play their roles

The control room is staffed by ABC Sports President Roone Arledge (Peter Sarsgaard), rookie producer Jeffrey Mason (John Magaro), VP of Olympic coverage Marvin Bader (Ben Chaplin), and German translator Marianne Gebhardt (Leonie Benesch). The film does a good job of showing off technology that was considered cutting-edge at the time but seems amusingly primitive today (e.g.

giant VTR machines, competing for satellite space, manually inserting graphics, etc)

But the key to any horror film is Tim Fehlbaum’s writing and direction, which keeps you on the edge of your seat for the entire film. Adding to the realism is the use of archival footage from Jim McKay’s reporting on the tragedy.

But that joke certainly doesn’t stop me from highly recommending this excellent film – it’s a must-see!

My only minor issue is the casting of Benjamin Walker as Peter Jennings – he doesn’t seem quite right to play the handsome and elegant anchor I remember (I probably would have cut his character and relied solely on the tape of Jennings speaking from the Olympic Village).