ONE DAY IN SEPTEMBER (1999)
Reviewed by Jerry Saravia
"One Day in September" is an effective propaganda piece, not necessarily an effective document of the times in which it is set. Propaganda is a one-sided view of making people believe in one theory without presenting others. A true document of a chaotic mess like the 1972 Munich Olympics is to show various points-of-view and present it honestly, offering arguments from both sides of the coin, not just one.
The idea that the Olympics would take place in Munich, Germany where a host of Israelites would be performing their games was already a momentous occasion. It was an opportunity for Germany to amend for the Holocaust and for the 1932 Berlin Olympics, which Adolf Hitler had attended and was a sight for many Hail Hitler salutes. Many Israeli athletes engaged in every sport, from weight lifting to fencing to swimming. All this is shown as a montage with music from "Joy" by Apollo 100. The Olympics is destined to be a great success. But something horrible happens. A few Palestinian terrorists from a group known as Black September infiltrate the apartment buildings where the athletes stay and take several of them hostage. The demands of these terrorists is to release three political prisoners or else they'll execute one hostage at a time. The German generals and police try to negotiate with little success, and we also see how unprepared they are for this (not to mention the lax security at the Olympics event in the first place.)
Unfortunately, director Kevin MacDonald treats the documentary subject as if it was Oliver Stone coming in and fiddling with the reels, switching and ignoring information with careless ease. Stone could make a better film from this subject than MacDonald has, but something is certainly off in the execution. For one, the film uses some narration voiced by Michael Douglas that does little to inform us of the chaos and the political subtext from either side (as a rule, documentaries are generally better without narration). Thus, we learn little of why these Palestinian terrorists chose to use the Olympics as the setting for a hostage situation (possibly media glory knowing the whole word would know about it, but that is a moot point. Carlos the Jackal was reportedly behind the Black September group, a fact largely ignored in the film). We also learn too little of the German police and security, not to mention the government who are shown to be callous and arrogant and want the Olympic games to continue despite the hostage situation. They are also shown to be unwilling, at one point, to release any political prisoners for any terrorist, and very willing the next moment to do anything for these terrorists after they hijack a plane - a hijacking that has since been the subject of much speculation. But the Germans, both the security and secret service, look like fools who commit one too many blunders. One such blunder, a tense sequence to be sure, is when a raid is about to take place at the apartments where they plan to infiltrate the terrorists until the Germans realize their very efforts are being televised, and possibly watched by the terrorists. Then there is the airfield where the terrrorists want to take the hostages by plane to Lybia or some such area. The snipers are deployed but are given erroneous information and end up killing their own, not to mention causing a bloodbath where no hostages survive as a result.
"One Day in September" does focus on one of the hostages, a fencing coach named Andre Spitzer, and his wholesome image as portrayed by his widow, Ankie Spitzer, who was very much in love with the man. If only the other hostages merited as much screen time so we could understand the loss more vividly. A little more exposition on these terrorists would have been nice (this is not about being sympathetic to their cause, only to understand motive). The film focuses on the tense situation at Munich but never establishes the personalities of those involved, especially the terrorists. We do get one surviving terrorist, Jamal Al Gashey, who talks about how proud he is since the hostage situation helped the world turn its attention to Palestine. Some of this is fascinating to be sure but not enough to establish a clear goal, and what exactly was Palestine going through at that time? And why does director MacDonald show a montage of corpses with rock music in the background?
For an attempt to see the chaos that occurred in those fateful days at Munich, "One Day in September" is an essential film record of that moment. If nothing else, it will make you seek out literature on this still very relevant subject today.
