I was privileged to see this excellent film at the AFI Film Festival
Story
During the 1972 Summer Olympics in Munich, Germany, an American sports broadcast team must adapt to a live broadcast of Israeli athletes being held hostage by a terrorist group.
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 event of the Black September attacks on the Israeli athletes.
The film also accurately shows how technology that was considered cutting edge back then seems hilariously primitive today (examples include giant VTR machines competing for satellite space, manual graphics insertion, etc)
The control room is populated by ABC Sports President Rune Arledge (Peter Sarsgaard), emerging producer Jeffrey Mason (John Magaro), VP of Olympic coverage Marvin Bader (Ben Chaplin), and German translator Marianne Gebhardt (Leoni Benesch), all of whom are excellent in their roles.
Adding to the realism is the use of archival footage from Jim McKay’s coverage of the tragedy
But the key aspect of any thriller is the screenplay and direction by Tim Fellbaum, which keeps you on the edge of your seat throughout the film.
But that quibble certainly doesn’t stop me from highly recommending this excellent film – a must-see!
My only minor gripe is the casting of Benjamin Walker as Peter Jennings – he doesn’t seem quite right to play the handsome and elegant anchorman I remember (I would probably cut his character and rely solely on the recording of Jennings speaking from the Olympic Village).