At the Munich Olympics in 1972, a dozen Israeli athletes were taken hostage by Palestinian terrorists. Within 24 hours, 11 of the hostages were dead.
Using archival photos and news footage as well as interviews with eye witnesses, officials and survivors, filmmaker Kevin Macdonald recreates the tragic events at Munich in the Oscar-winning documentary, One Day In September.
It is an unusual film in that it's a sort of documentary thriller -- a thriller that is, alas, quite real.
Put into historical perspective by this film, the incidents at Munich unfold as one catastrophic screw-up after another. Eager to erase all last traces of the 1936 Berlin Olympics (aka the Nazi Olympics) and to present a modern, easy-going new face to the world, German officials insisted on fairly lax security for the Olympic events. Police, for example, were banned from the Olympic village.
When members of the Black September terrorist group -- all disguised as athletes -- climbed over the fence at Olympic village by night to begin their kidnapping campaign, they were helped over by a group of American athletes who had been out late drinking.
When the Palestinians took their hostages, Germany was caught with her pants down, so to speak.
Several pathetic attempts were made to free the hostages by tricking the terrorists. It was finally decided to apprehend the Palestinians at an airport as they left the country, but the entire situation was mishandled from the word go. Someone forgot to call for the armed cars. The police team hiding in the aircraft abandoned their mission. The snipers were too few and in the wrong places. The whole thing is mind-boggling.
Through it all, German officials were determined not to lose the global prestige available through the Olympics. That was their priority, and they had to be convinced to have the Games suspended.
The notion that history is in the past is shattered in One Day In September by present-day interviews with the widows and children of the athletes -- not to mention interviews with Jamal al-Gashey, the one Black September terrorist who is still alive.
The Munich massacre was a blip on the world screen for many years; 28 years later, the obscene behaviour of some officials at the time, the disastrous lack of decisive action and the general cover-up involved are all revealed in this film.
It is not uptempo fare. This is not a sanitized version of the truth but real news footage, so if you intend to take your teenager -- and you should -- be warned in advance.
In a world where civilians killed in war are white-washed into eternity as "collateral damage," this film should be required viewing.
One Day In September is playing at the Bayview Cinemas.
(This film is rated AA)
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