39/18
I was honored to see this excellent film at the AFI Film Festival
During the 1972 Summer Olympics in Munich, Germany, the American sports 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 at the 1972 Olympics
It realistically depicts the routine aspects of running the control room during the event and, of course, the tragic event of the Black September attacks on the Israeli athletes.
The film also shows exactly how technology that was considered cutting edge at the time feels amusingly primitive today (examples include giant VTR machines competing for satellite space, manual graphics input, etc)
The control room is populated by ABC Sports President Rune Arledge (Peter Sarsgaard), budding producer Jeffrey Mason (John Magaro), VP of Olympic coverage Marvin Bader (Ben Chaplin), and German translator Marian Gebhardt (Leoni Benes), all of whom are excellent in their roles.
The use of archival footage from Jim McKay’s coverage of the tragedy adds to the realism
But a key aspect of any thriller is Tim Felbaum’s writing and direction, which will keep you on the edge of your seat throughout the film.
But that conundrum certainly doesn’t stop me from highly recommending this excellent film – you have to see it!
My only minor gripe is the casting of Benjamin Walker as Peter Jennings – it doesn’t quite feel right to play the handsome, elegant anchorman I remember (I would probably cut his character and just rely on the recording of Jennings narrating from the Olympic village).