SEPTEMBER 5 is a heart-pounding thriller, a masterful film about journalistic ethics, superbly acted by cast

At the 1972 Munich Olympics, the ABC Sports broadcasting crew led by Roone Arledge (Peter Sarsgaard) must suddenly pivot to covering hard news when the Israeli Olympic team is taken hostage by the Palestinian terrorist group Black September. The tragic events from that day are well known to history, but less so are the extraordinary efforts of journalists who made quick and innovative – though less than ideal – decisions to document them as they unfolded. After shots ring out from the Olympic Village neighboring the ABC Sports studio, the German police lock down the area, with only resident athletes allowed entry. Realizing that their sports unit may be able to cover a breaking story no news division can, Arledge’s team goes to work: wheeling a massive TV camera outside to get images of the terrorists on an apartment balcony, impersonating a U.S. athlete to smuggle 16mm equipment in and out of the village and promoting German translator Marianne Gebhardt (Leonie Benesch) to a de facto field reporter. Director and co-writer Tim Fehlbaum captures not only the urgency of the moment and the creative solutions to multiples challenges, but also where accuracy becomes endangered in the drive to get the story.-