One Day in September
Encyclopedia
One Day in September is a 1999 documentary film
Documentary film
Documentary films constitute a broad category of nonfictional motion pictures intended to document some aspect of reality, primarily for the purposes of instruction or maintaining a historical record...

 directed by Kevin Macdonald
Kevin MacDonald (director)
Kevin Macdonald is a Scottish director, best known for his films One Day in September, State of Play, The Last King of Scotland and Touching the Void.-Personal life:...

 examining the 5 September 1972 murder of 11 Israeli athletes
Munich massacre
The Munich massacre is an informal name for events that occurred during the 1972 Summer Olympics in Munich, Bavaria in southern West Germany, when members of the Israeli Olympic team were taken hostage and eventually killed by the Palestinian group Black September. Members of Black September...

 at the 1972 Summer Olympics
1972 Summer Olympics
The 1972 Summer Olympics, officially known as the Games of the XX Olympiad, were an international multi-sport event held in Munich, West Germany, from August 26 to September 11, 1972....

 in Munich, Germany
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...

. Michael Douglas
Michael Douglas
Michael Kirk Douglas is an American actor and producer, primarily in movies and television. He has won three Golden Globes and two Academy Awards; first as producer of 1975's Best Picture, One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, and as Best Actor in 1987 for his role in Wall Street. Douglas received the...

 provides the sparse narration throughout the film.

The film won the Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature
Academy Award for Documentary Feature
The Academy Award for Documentary Feature is among the most prestigious awards for documentary films.- Winners and nominees:Following the Academy's practice, films are listed below by the award year...

 in 2000.

Subject matter

The documentary begins with an advertisement by the Munich Tourism Bureau with a beautiful young girl inviting the world to visit the city for the Olympics, then shows interviews with the wives of some of the murdered athletes, including Ankie Spitzer, widow of fencing coach Andre Spitzer
Andre Spitzer
Andre Spitzer , was a fencing master and coach of Israel's 1972 Summer Olympics team. He was one of 11 athletes and coaches taken hostage and subsequently killed by Palestinians in the Munich massacre.-Early life:...

. The film also features the first known filmed interview with Jamal Al-Gashey
Jamal Al-Gashey
Jamal Al-Gashey was a member of the Black September offshoot of the Palestine Liberation Organization and is believed to be the last surviving member of the group of eight terrorists who carried out the massacre of eleven Israeli athletes during the 1972 Munich Olympics. He is visible several...

, allegedly the only surviving terrorist. Al-Gashey, who is in hiding in Africa
Africa
Africa is the world's second largest and second most populous continent, after Asia. At about 30.2 million km² including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of the Earth's total surface area and 20.4% of the total land area...

, wears a cap and sunglasses and his face is slightly blurred.

There are various shots of the Games getting under way, and attention is given to the lax security the Germans had at the Games. The terrorists are seen preparing for the assault; Al-Gashey claims that he and the other members were trained in Libya
Libya
Libya is an African country in the Maghreb region of North Africa bordered by the Mediterranean Sea to the north, Egypt to the east, Sudan to the southeast, Chad and Niger to the south, and Algeria and Tunisia to the west....

 before going to West Germany
West Germany
West Germany is the common English, but not official, name for the Federal Republic of Germany or FRG in the period between its creation in May 1949 to German reunification on 3 October 1990....

 to begin the assault.

The assault is described by Al-Gashey as well as by some of the German security staff present. Footage of ABC
American Broadcasting Company
The American Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network. Created in 1943 from the former NBC Blue radio network, ABC is owned by The Walt Disney Company and is part of Disney-ABC Television Group. Its first broadcast on television was in 1948...

 anchor Jim McKay
Jim McKay
James Kenneth McManus , better known by his professional name of Jim McKay, was an American television sports journalist....

 is interspersed, along with sound clips of Peter Jennings
Peter Jennings
Peter Charles Archibald Ewart Jennings, CM was a Canadian American journalist and news anchor. He was the sole anchor of ABC's World News Tonight from 1983 until his death in 2005 of complications from lung cancer...

, to give an impression of events unfolding as they happened. General Ulrich Wegener
Ulrich Wegener
Ulrich K. "Ricky" Wegener is a retired German police officer and founding member of the counter-terrorist force GSG 9. He was born in Jüterbog, Brandenburg...

, founder of the German counter-terrorist unit GSG 9
GSG 9
The GSG 9 der Bundespolizei , is the elite counter-terrorism and special operations unit of the German Federal Police.-History and name:...

, was also interviewed during the film, and was roundly criticized for his seemingly flippant attitude about the subject matter.

The film offers evidence to the allegation that the rescue operation was poorly planned and executed: the snipers were not prepared and were poorly positioned. The film implies that had the German government prepared better, the athletes might have been saved. Former Mossad Director Zvi Zamir
Zvi Zamir
Zvi Zamir born Zvicka Zarzevsky was a Major General in the Israel Defense Forces and the Director of the Mossad from 1968 to 1974. Born in Poland, Zamir immigrated with his family to the then British Mandate of Palestine when only seven months old...

, who was present at the airport during the final gunfight, is interviewed about his views on the failed rescue (he had previously been interviewed on this subject in an NBC profile of the Munich massacre broadcast during the Barcelona Olympics). Potential viewers should note that graphic photographs of the dead Israelis and Palestinians are shown at the end of this section in a photo-montage set to the Deep Purple
Deep Purple
Deep Purple are an English rock band formed in Hertford in 1968. Along with Led Zeppelin and Black Sabbath, they are considered to be among the pioneers of heavy metal and modern hard rock, although some band members believe that their music cannot be categorised as belonging to any one genre...

 song "Child in Time
Child in Time
"Child in Time" is a song by British hard rock band Deep Purple. Featured on their 1970 album Deep Purple in Rock, the song is 10 minutes and 18 seconds long.-History and characteristics:...

".

The film also alleges that the 29 October hijacking of a German Lufthansa
Lufthansa
Deutsche Lufthansa AG is the flag carrier of Germany and the largest airline in Europe in terms of overall passengers carried. The name of the company is derived from Luft , and Hansa .The airline is the world's fourth-largest airline in terms of overall passengers carried, operating...

 jet and its subsequent release in exchange for the three Black September members being held for trial was a set-up by the German government, who did not want their failings to be made obvious in the trial.

Criticisms

After the movie's release, film critic Roger Ebert
Roger Ebert
Roger Joseph Ebert is an American film critic and screenwriter. He is the first film critic to win a Pulitzer Prize for Criticism.Ebert is known for his film review column and for the television programs Sneak Previews, At the Movies with Gene Siskel and Roger Ebert, and Siskel and Ebert and The...

 penned a review recommending the movie, praising Cohn's exhaustive research, but he also criticized the style of the film and the lack of information as to why the Palestinians carried out the raid. He also criticized the film's "tasteless conclusion", which was a montage of action shots and photos of victims' corpses with a rock music score. He continued these criticisms after the movie received an Academy Award, pointing out how the filmmaker had (in his opinion) subverted the Academy laws, which dictate that members must have seen all nominated films to vote. By limiting screenings to "friendly audiences," a film maker can effectively prevent anyone else from voting. Joe Berlinger
Joe Berlinger
Joseph "Joe" Berlinger is an American documentary film-maker who, in collaboration with Bruce Sinofsky, has created such films as Paradise Lost about the West Memphis 3, Brother's Keeper, Some Kind of Monster, and Crude....

, director of such acclaimed documentaries as Brother's Keeper and Paradise Lost, joined Ebert in criticizing Arthur Cohn's method of screening his film for "friendly audiences".

Companion book

  • Reeve, Simon
    Simon Reeve (UK television presenter)
    Simon Reeve is a British author, adventurer and TV presenter. Based in London, he makes travel documentaries in little-known areas of the world and has written books on international terrorism, modern history and about his adventures...

    (New York, 2001), One Day in September: the full story of the 1972 Munich Olympic massacre and the Israeli operation 'Wrath of God' ISBN 1-55970-547-7

External links

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