"That's a nice-a donut."

Wednesday, February 15, 2006


One Day in September (1999)

One of the movies currently nominated for Best Picture at the upcoming Oscars is director Steven Spielberg's Munich. In it, a group of Israeli agents are assigned by their government to carry out assassinations on those people responsible for the terrible kidnapping, and eventual murder, of eleven Israeli athletes and coaches at the 1972 Summer Olympic games in Munich, Germany. It was a terrible event that overshadowed an otherwise great month of sports. It was especially sorrowful for the Germans, who had gone to great lengths to separate themselves from their past and to have things be nothing like that of the 1936 Games in Berlin. But Spielberg is not the first to put this on film. The events of that day have been chronicled before, several years ago, in the Oscar-winning documentary One Day in September, from director Kevin McDonald.

Along with some recent interviews, the movie is composed of plenty of stunning archival video. Michael Douglas is officially the narrator, but much of the (announcing) duties fall in the hands of news footage, particularly of Jim McKay of ABC Sports, with brief auditory appearances by other familiar folks like Peter Jennings and Howard Cosell. Some of the interviews include various German officials, the man believed to be the only surviving member (Jamal Al Gashey) of the Black September group responsible for the heinous acts, and several family members of one of the ill-fated Israel hostages - Andre Spitzer a fencing coach.

If there is one, Ankie Spitzer (wife of Andre) is the protagonist of the story. She tells us details about their life together, and how making it to the Olympics was always a dream of his. There is a touching anecdote about how Andre saw the Liberian team while in Munich; he told her he wanted to say hello, but she thought that was crazy since the two countries weren't exactly friendly. He did anyway and, to her surprise, he had a nice conversation with team members, talking about how their events were going. For that very moment, the Olympic ideals of peace and serenity were being fulfilled. Ankie, as well as her daughter who was very young in 1972, and their stories provide even more emotional impact later on in the film.

McDonald and the filmmakers show a few of the memorable athletic endeavors from the '72 games, such as Mark Spitz' legendary efforts and the closing moments of the infamous USA-USSR gold medal men's basketball game, which are shown in a brief montage sequence in the early stages of the movie. For the most part though, the focus is on the tragic events unfolding in the Israel section of the Olympic Village. Considerable time is spent on the fact that it was colossally bungled by both German authorities and Olympic officials. IOC organizers were heavily criticized for not stopping the Olympic events right away (and even after they finally halted them, they were back on soon after). The Germans were completely unprepared for something like this. One example is something that, in hindsight, is rather humorous: when it is revealed that a planned raid on the building (which is being broadcast live to the world on television) was seen by the terrorists because all of the athlete's rooms had TVs.

One thing that holds the movie back from making the leap into the "excellent" category is that it lacks input from the members of the Israel Olympic delegation that were not involved in the tragedy. Surely these very lucky people must have had a lot to say? And, even if every single one of them didn't want to speak about it years later, why was so little said about them via the news coverage that was shown or through narration? They must have been terrified. Certainly their security was at risk, so were they just shuttled off to a safe place, or were they simply watching the events unfold live on television like everyone else? The movie doesn’t tell us.

Other that that, One Day in September is a very insightful and powerful movie that should resonate with most viewers. Even though most people will be familiar with the story - or will at least know how it turns out - it is still very compelling and provides for plenty of drama. You may know what is going to happen, but you are still hopeful. It is a very good and entertaining blend of news coverage, opinions, facts, sentiment and sorrow. It might even make you want to learn more about the Munich massacre. For a documentary, that is high praise indeed.

The Verdict: B+

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