Greetings from the Dark Again
Plot
At the 1972 Summer Olympics in Munich, Germany, an American television crew must adapt to live coverage of Israeli athletes being held hostage by a terrorist group. The year 1972 is remembered for a few highlights. Swimmer Mark Spitz set seven world records en route to seven gold medals. Belarusian gymnast Olga Korbut won three gold medals (albeit not in the all-around). The United States and Russia played one of the strangest and most controversial games in Olympic history.
These Games were held just 27 years after the end of World War II
And most of all, the 1972 Munich Olympics is remembered for the tragedy surrounding the taking of 10 members of the Israeli team hostage by a group of masked Palestinian militants. Writer-director Tim Fehlbaum and co-writers Moritz Binder and Alex David recreate the events from the perspective of the ABC television production team. For some historical perspective, these were the first Olympics with full-scale, live television coverage. They were also the first Olympics to be held in Germany since 1936 (the Jesse Owens Games). A quick calculation tells us that 27 years ago from the release of this film was 1997, the year Princess Diana died.
Mason has experience covering minor league baseball, so this is his first chance in the big leagues
To put it bluntly, the physical and emotional wounds had not fully healed, and Germany was struggling to put the past behind it. Famed ABC sports producer Roone Arledge (played here by Peter Sarsgaard) is the man who manages the Olympic coverage. Rookie broadcast producer Geoffrey Mason (John Magaro, PAST LIVES, 2023) is hired to handle the “off hours” while Arledge rests. His supervisor, Marvin Bader (played by Ben Chaplin, THE RED LINE, 1998) has faith in his young protégé, but things quickly go south when gunshots are heard. The genius of the film comes from director Fehlbaum and cinematographer Marcus Forderer’s (I ORIGINS, 2014) decision to film everything inside ABC’s control room.
Anchor Jim McKay appears in archival footage, while reporter Peter Jennings is on the ground
This heightens the claustrophobia and pressure as the crew struggles with how best to handle this developing and obviously historic moment. It’s no longer swimming and sprinting, but now ABC Sports versus ABC News… and since possession is the proverbial 9/10 of the law, Arledge fights to keep the story with his crew nearby. Translator Marianne Gebhardt (Leonie Benesch, who was great in THE TEACHER’S LOUNGE, 2023) is the only one who speaks German and is essential in her reporting on what’s being broadcast on the local radio. It’s hard to convey how tense this film is, both for the TV crew and the viewers. Ten members of the Israeli Olympic team have been taken hostage inside the Olympic Village by the masked Palestinian militant group Black September.
The haunting archival footage used here adds to the almost documentary feel
We know how the story unfolded during those hours, and it’s chilling to revisit it from this perspective. Geopolitics are touched upon (Bader was Jewish), but that’s not what this is about. Journalism may be heavily criticized these days, but it’s historical moments like this where we depend on skilled, trained professionals to tell (and show) the stories the world needs to know. Opening in select theaters on December 13, 2024, and to the general public on January 10, 2025.
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