One Day in September (1999) *** 1/2 (out of 4) Very good, Oscar-winning documentary taking a look at the tragic 1972 events at the Munich Olympic games where eleven Israeli athletes were taken hostage by Palestinian terrorists. Through interviews and archival footage we hear about the planning of the event, the taking of the athletes, the negotiations to have them freed and then the tragic events that led to their deaths. Outside some questionable uses of music, this is a pretty strong documentary that features some great interviews with many of the people on the scene. We get interviews with some of the police negotiators, family members of victims and most shockingly is the last living terrorist who for the first time talks about the operation. There have been quite a few documentaries on this subject but this one here is without question one of the most interesting because of the people that were interviewed. It's was great getting to hear from the people who were involved in the negotiations and of course it was interesting to hear from the last remaining terrorist. With narration from Michael Douglas, the film does a very good job at mixing the interviews with the archival footage and it really gives you a great idea of the events and everything that was going on. This is especially true when you see some live TV broadcasts and learn that this hurt the police because the terrorist were inside watching and seeing that a raid was about to happen, which caused the first rescue mission to be canceled. The blunders of the German police are also on full display and it's really shocking to see how badly the entire thing was handled and especially the finale at the airport. Then, of course, there's the supposed hijacking, which led to the three surviving terrorists to get off without being punished (for the time).

I found this film, with its blurred boundaries between thriller and documentary, rather compelling and hard to look away from. My comments here are really more about the criticisms of the film than the film itself. I've read several comments about ONE DAY IN September from Europeans lamenting its treatment of the Germans and Palestinians. As an American, I admit much more sympathy for Israel than Palestine (despite the USA's shameful record on race, at least we didn't launch the Holocaust), but the film is more about the killing of the innocent (and bungled German efforts to save them) than a deep historical treatment of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. (For that, I'd recommend FIFTY-YEAR WAR, a PBS Frontline documentary.) And I'm not sure it's totally unfair to condemn the Germans for failing to even have an anti-terrorist unit, considering that terrorism was already a rising problem in Europe by 1972. This film isn't objective and isn't obligated to be -- if a counterpart film appears, I'd certainly watch, but I don't expect it to elicit much sympathy on my side of the pond. (And, in case anyone thinks I'm a right-wing lunatic, I've never voted Republican and oppose the current war.)

Judging from previously posted reviews, "One Day in September" obviously is being seen by many people who cannot remember September 5, 1972. Those who can will appreciate the musical score, which might have been in the heads of those (English speakers) present that day. Also, anyone of any age above toddler 33 years ago will understand that the director of this film harks back to a day when Israel gained unquestioning support in the West.It has been my privilege to speak to a number of (mostly) American athletes who were in Munich that day. The stories they tell go beyond even the bizarre and amazing revelations presented as fact in "One Day in September". Others have traveled down this path before, in print, on TV and in the official film of the XX Olympiad, the interesting but very uneven "Visions of Eight". The whole truth is too complex to be told. Surprised? By 1999, both Alexander Scourby and David Perry were gone. The filmmakers settle for Hollywood heavyweight Michael Douglas as offscreen narrator. James Earl Jones might have been a better choice, but the dialogue track is so poorly written that no voice, no matter how dramatic, could have saved it.Surely there were better choices for the Feature Documentary Oscar that year?

I feel compelled to reply to the many people who say the documentary was completely biased toward Israelis. True, its focus was on the Israelis and their lives, and how they were killed by "evil" fundamentalist Palestinians. However, if you say the film is biased, then you're saying that maybe it should lean a little bit the other way, and tell more about the Palestinian terrorists and their personal plight in the conflict. But how can anyone be sympathetic to terrorists? The point has been brought up that both sides of the conflict experience terrorist attacks, so why should a filmmaker focus on one side more than the other; however, I think the fact that this attack took place at the Olympics, an event that represents the unity of the world and its people, is what makes the attack and this documentary so important. Therefore, Kevin MacDonald, in my opinion, has license to be as biased as he wants toward the Israelis, because they were the focus of this terrible event that occurred during a time that people around the world should have been united under the Olympics banner.