26/33
I had the privilege of seeing this excellent film at the AFI Film Festival
Story
During the 1972 Munich Olympics, an American sports broadcasting team is forced to cover the hosting crisis involving Israeli athletes.
The film takes place in the ABC control room of the 1972 Olympics in Munich
It realistically depicts both the routine aspects of the control room during the event and then, of course, the tragic event of Black September against Israeli athletes.
The film also accurately shows how technology that was considered state-of-the-art at the time, but seems amusingly primitive today (for example, giant VTR machines, competing for satellite space, manually adding graphics, etc)
In the control room are ABC Sports President Roone Arledge (Peter Sarsgaard), upstart producer Geoffrey Mason (John Magaro), Olympic Communications Vice President Marvin Bader (Ben Chaplin) and German interpreter Marianne Gebhardt (Leonie Benesch), all of whom excel in their roles.
Realism is enhanced by the use of archival material from Jim McKay’s report on the tragedy
But the key factor in any thriller is Tim Fehlbaum’s script and direction, which keeps you on the edge of your seat throughout the film.
But that spark certainly doesn’t stop me from recommending this excellent film – it’s a must-see!
My only minor quibble 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 just relied on the tape of Jennings’ speech from the Olympic Village).
