I was eleven when the real events of this drama took place, and I don’t remember them at all.  It’s ancient history.  And yet — because of films like this, and Munich (2005), it isn’t ancient history at all.  Movies like this can bring that half-remembered history back into sharp focus, perhaps with intriguing new perspectives.  And that’s what this movie does, focusing on the journalistic aspects of reporting on the first terror attack to be fully televised.

Tim Fehlbaum’s movie follows the ABC Sports crew covering the 1972 Munich Olympics that was interrupted by the hostage-taking of Israeli athletes.  The reporters and technicians scramble to be able to follow and record the story happening so close to them, while the German police try to take command of the area and the network bigwigs try to force Roone Arledge (Peter Sarsgaard) to relinquish control of the unfolding story to the news department back in New York.  Aided by their innovative German translator Marianne Gebhardt (Leonie Benesch) and an unheralded line producer Geoffrey Mason (John Magaro), Arledge and his team attempt to do the impossible — while also worrying that the coverage they are providing may actually fuel the already explosive situation.

Journalism has been savaged in recent years because of our extreme political dissent, but stories like this one provide evidence that it is not only necessary but imperative that objective reporting be allowed and be respected.  As behind-the-scenes as possible, this real-life drama illustrates how news (and sports, of course) coverage is established and maintained by professionals.  “Follow the story no matter where it goes” is their mantra, and there is no better guidance than that.  The reporters and producers discuss and argue about the most essential tenets of what they are doing, collaborating to ease through their differences and bring the story to the world.  And there is nothing more noble than that.

All of the live feeds involving reporter Jim McKay and live interviews are the actual recordings made in 1972, as events were happening, which adds immeasurably to the verisimilitude of the piece.  That said, however, it is odd to have actors portraying familiar media faces Roone Arledge (Sarsgaard), Marvin Bader (Ben Chaplin) and Peter Jennings (Benjamin Walker).  And while the unfolding events form the crux of the drama it feels like a missed opportunity not to have more personal glimpses of the people trying to make sense of it.  The movie runs a crisp 95 minutes; I wonder if a slightly longer cut would be even more effective.  ☆ ☆ ☆.  10 April 2025.