23/34
During the 1972 Summer Olympics in Munich, Germany, an American sports broadcasting team had to adapt to a live broadcast of Israeli athletes being held hostage by a terrorist group. Juliet Menager worked in the casting department for both this film and “Munich” (2005). This was Regal’s Monday Mystery Movie from December 9. I didn’t expect it, as I had heard little about it, but as soon as the movie started, I was intrigued because I knew the story it was based on. It covers the events of September 5, 1972, when Palestinian terrorists take hostages against the Israeli team during the Olympics in Munich, Germany. This film does not delve into the politics of the situation, but instead focuses on the ABC sports news team, which had to do its best to cover the events as they unfolded. It was well told and very well edited, with a combination of real footage from the event mixed in with the acting. I was very impressed with how it was all done, and I also enjoyed watching the story unfold through the eyes of the news team. It was interesting to see how they had to think quickly on the fly to be able to cover as much of what was happening as possible. It was also interesting to see the “behind the scenes” of news coverage – when the mainstream news media actually acted ethically. Or asked to do it. It’s not an action-packed movie, but I was engaged the whole time and wasn’t bored at all. It’s also a fairly short film, running about 90 minutes (although it seemed longer because of everything that was happening). I recommend it. Video review coming soon.