|
| • Advanced Search • Help |
One Day In September | Year: 1999 Classification: Documentary Directed: - Kevin Macdonald Actors/Actresses: - Michael Douglas - Ankie Spitzer Lest we not remember This film did an excellent job of retelling a significant event that has been downplayed or simply forgotten in the hopes that "progress", coexistence and my personal favorite, "peace" can be attained in the Middle East. This film brought back my first memories as a child watching the Olympics and not understanding why this wonderful event that brings the world together had been brought to a fatal halt in the name of world politics. Unfortunately, as we experienced with the United States boycott of the 1980 Moscow Olympics and the Soviet/Communist Block boycott of the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics, the Munich Massacre would not be the last time that we would see the Olympic games utilized as a political soapbox. Macdonald did an excellent job of bringing in footage and interviews that we were not privvy to in the pre-cable days of the 1970's. The family interviews showed tragic and destructive memories that continue to pain the victims nearly 30 years later. The sadly unprepared and unqualified German security was unconscionable. Opposition against the Israel had been occuring ever since it was restored in 1948. War was declared against Israel in 1948 by neighboring Arab nations, the Sinai Campain/Suez Canal blockage of the 1950's, and the Six Day War in 1967 just to name a few events that marked the need for increased security for the Israeli team. Not to mention that just the gesture of increased security by the German government would have been a huge public relations boost to rid themselves of their recent reputation ... But they chose not to do so. I had the priviledge of working security at the 1984 Olympics and it was basically a very low key job (there was a large security force plus local police and paramilitary) except when the Israeli team arrived with a surrounding motorcade and chase helicopters from above. Things got very tense and serious. I began to realize the magnitude of the events that occured in Munich. One glaring ommission of the film in its portrayal of the Black September Palestinians is the fact that there is not one mention of Arafat or the PLO throughout the film. It has been well established that Black September and the PLO were one in the same. These acts were not merely done by a fringe group. Arafat has admitted this with his disclaimer that the PLO has since grown more "moderate". The film does not mention this, for fear of perhaps being labeled Pro-Israeli. However, this was a fact that should not have been overlooked. The film portrays the events as an Israeli/Palestinian issue but as we see with the "heroes funeral" the slain terrorists receive in Libya and their earlier request at the airport to be taken to any Arab nation with the hostages, the conflict is, and always has been, an Arab/Israeli conflict and not merely an Israeli/Palestinian conflict. I judge any film by how much I think about it afterward. This film invoked much thought and I've never been prompted to write a review like this with any film I've se Terrorism at the 1972 Olympic Games in Munich, Germany. ONE DAY IN SEPTEMBER is an intriguing documentary covering the brutal killings of eleven Israeli athletes by a radical Palestinian terrorism group at the 1972 Olympic Games held in Munich, Germany. First-rate film archives of the unfolding drama are shown throughout this film and are interspersed with present-day interviews of numerous individuals directly involved, including the sole remaining terrorist who remains in hiding to this day in fear of Israeli assassination squads. Although the ending is not a secret I found this film to be gripping and suspenseful. One of the most compelling aspects of this film pertains to how Germany failed repeatedly to effectively protect the athletes and to successfully rescue the hostages. Participating in the 1972 Olympic Games was a momentous symbolic measure for Israel as German-Jewish relations remained sore nearly three decades after the collapse of Nazi Germany. Security surrounding the Olympic Village was intentionally relaxed and the guards did not carry guns. This apparent loophole enabled the terrorists to infiltrate the Israeli housing complex and carry out their treats to the vicious end. Watching this documentary is very timely considering present-day political situations in the Middle East and the upcoming summer Olympics in Athens, Greece. It is my dear hope that the Greeks will learn from the mistakes of the Germans and protect all the athletes and spectators from harm. The camaraderie and spirit of the Olympics should not be overshadowed by acts of terrorism. It's sobering to realize that 30 years later the Palestinian-Israeli conflict remains in the headlines and claims countless of lives. Highly recommended. fascinating subject, disappointing documentary A film by Kevin MacDonald "One Day in September" is a documentary film dealing with the terrorist attack at the 1972 Olympic Games held in Munich, Germany. On September 5, 1972, eight Palestinian terrorists stormed the Olympic Village and killed two Israelis athletes and took another nine Israelis hostage. This began the standoff between the German police and the terrorists. The documentary starts by letting us know who some of the victims are (though, I suppose if you had no idea what this was about you wouldn't know they were the future victims). The film focuses on one particular Israeli and his wife speaks about him and what kind of man he was. We also get the perspective of Jamal al-Gashey, one of the terrorists. He speaks on camera (though obscured by lack of light) about the planning for the incident. The documentary then tells us about the hopes for the Munich games, the first Olympic games since the 1932 Berlin games when Hitler was the host. The hope was that the games could be a reconciliation after World War II. But then the attack occurred and the standoff began. From the start, nothing went right. "One Day in September" shows the ineptitude of the German police throughout the event. One example is that the police put together a task force to rescue the hostages at the Olympic village. Sounds great, but they were doing it in daylight and there were television crews covering the standoff and they barely realized in time that every room in the Olympic village had a television and the terrorists were likely watching every move the police made. It got worse from there. It wasn't until the final rescue attempt at the airport that the ineptitude reached a critical level. I couldn't believe how many things were not taken into consideration, such as the sniper team had no communication with the police so they did not know how many terrorists there were, and two of the snipers didn't have helmets or bulletproof vests so they were pinned down and couldn't take a shot. I have two main thoughts running through my head about this film. The subject of the film is fascinating. This is something that I want to know about and it is a huge moment in Olympic history (and gets alluded to in the two Steve Prefontaine movies). The other thought is that while the subject was incredibly interesting and the movie won the 1999 Academy Award for Best Documentary, I don't feel that it was as well made as it could have been. The documentary was somewhat boring, very slow moving (a documentary can move at a swift pace even for an event covering a short period of time), and was not very engaging. It is a movie that I wanted to like, but I think it was only average. It lingered too long at times and did not move on in telling the story fast enough. Buy One Day In September at Amazon.com Buy posters at Allposters.com Jamster - the latest ringtones for your phone!  Search with Walhello on the Internet on One Day In September Search with the Priority Search Engine on One Day In September This page in other languages: Suomeksi | Nederlands | Deutsch
|
