Miscellaneous "September 5" is a film about the power of images
The terrorist attack on the 1972 Israeli Olympic team in Munich is also a media-historical event. Basel director Tim Fehlbaum talks about the media ethics issues raised by his film "September 5".
09.01.2025, 07:00
SDA
Writing media history was definitely the intention. The 1972 Summer Olympics in Munich were the first to be held on German soil since 1932, and the host hoped that the sporting and media spectacle would help to put the bad memories of the past to one side. An immense media apparatus was on hand to capture images of the sporting spectacle at close range and broadcast them live around the world for the first time with the help of a satellite.
However, these Summer Olympics are remembered above all for one image: that of a masked terrorist on a balcony, captured by one of the television cameras.
Historical material
Tim Fehlbaum, whose film "September 5" opens in Swiss cinemas today, January 9, has always been fascinated by this image, as he told the Keystone-SDA news agency. And with the picture, the story of the hostage-taking of Israeli athletes by the militant Palestinian group "Black September".
Fehlbaum went to film school not far from the scene of the events. After his two films - "Hell" (2011) and "Tides" (2021) - which are both set in a post-apocalyptic future, he wanted to dedicate his third film to historical material. According to the 42-year-old director from Basel, the approaches and objectives are not that far apart: All three films are staged as if they were recorded by a camera crew that happened to be there, he says. And regardless of whether it is set in the future or the past: "For me, a film is successful if it says something about the present - or at least makes us think about it."
A single perspective
With "September 5", which was also nominated for the Golden Globes, he has clearly achieved the latter - regardless of current developments in the Middle East conflict. This is mainly due to Fehlbaum and his co-author Moritz Binder's decision not to tell the story of the hostage-taking and its consequences in the traditional way. Rather than showing the different perspectives from numerous locations, the two decided to focus on just one: that of a group of sports journalists in the ABC Sports television studio.
The film thus dispenses with spectacular images, as well as an overview of the historical or political aspects of the situation. However, this decision provides a rarely seen insight into the technological and psychological aspects of television journalistic work during an extraordinary historical event.
"September 5 was a turning point in media history - even independently of the attack," explains Fehlbaum with regard to the significance of this day. There was this new type of technological apparatus, including new ideas on how to convey sporting events even more directly and emotionally. This apparatus then switched from one moment to the next - from sport to news. "Everything in the film is told from the perspective of these sports journalists, who were not necessarily politically savvy. Who had an innocent - or let's say unbiased - view of the situation. And who suddenly found themselves confronted with difficult moral questions."
Questions of media ethics
For example, they had the idea of placing one of the studio cameras on the balcony so that they could show an uninterrupted live image of the building façade behind which the drama of the hostage-taking was unfolding. In one of the central scenes of the film, there is a discussion about the risk that this camera could suddenly broadcast images of violence live around the world.
During their research, the filmmakers were also able to speak to the producer Geoffrey Mason, who is portrayed in the film by John Magaro. When asked whether they had thought about the consequences of their decisions at the time, he replied that there simply hadn't been enough time. Time, for example, to consider that the hostage-takers could be warned of the approach of the police via the live recordings they sent.
The role of technology
The film shows all this without judgment. Above all, it succeeds in conveying the complexity of the situation and the unrelenting pressure the journalists were under directly to the audience. "It was a completely new situation for everyone, and I see no reason to be critical of their decisions," says Fehlbaum. His respect for the journalistic craft grew while working on his film.
He refers to the central role of technology and emphasizes how important it was to him to have it as present, vivid and historically accurate as possible in the picture. This focus is another great strength of the film, as it highlights the importance of technology. This has only grown in the meantime. "Today we have the internet and everyone carries a camera in their pocket, but the questions - what to show when, what not to show, for what purpose - are the same as they were back then. The film takes a step back: to where they first became really important. "*
*This text by Dominic Schmid, Keystone-SDA, was realized with the help of the Gottlieb and Hans Vogt Foundation.
