27/41
I was privileged to see this excellent film at the AFI Film Festival
Chronology
During the 1972 Munich Olympics, an American sports television crew becomes embroiled in the coverage of the hostage crisis involving Israeli athletes.
The film is set in the ABC control room in Munich for the 1972 Olympics
It realistically depicts both the routine aspects of running a control room during an event, and of course, the tragic occurrence of the Black September attacks on the Israeli athletes.
The film also accurately shows how technology that was considered cutting edge at the time appears amusingly primitive today (examples include giant VTR machines, the competition for satellite space, manual input of graphics, etc)
The control room is populated by ABC Sports President Roone Arledge (Peter Sarsgaard), novice producer Geoffrey Mason (John Magaro), Vice President of Olympic coverage Marvin Bader (Ben Chaplin), and German actress Marianne Gebhardt (Leonie Benesch), all of whom excel in their roles.
Adding to the realism is the use of archive footage of Jim McKay’s account of the tragedy
But the key aspect of any thriller is the writing and direction by Tim Fehlbaum which keeps you on the edge of your seat throughout the film.
But that criticism certainly doesn’t stop me from highly recommending this excellent film: it’s a must-see!
My only small criticism is the casting of Benjamin Walker as Peter Jennings: he doesn’t seem quite right to play the handsome, dapper anchorman I remember (I probably would have cut his character and just relied on the tape of Jennings speaking from the Olympic village).