TrueJoshNight Truly Dreadful Film

Claysaba Excellent, Without a doubt!!

Fairaher The film makes a home in your brain and the only cure is to see it again.

SeeQuant Blending excellent reporting and strong storytelling, this is a disturbing film truly stranger than fiction

blanche-2 What a frustrating experience.Interesting today, when you see a documentary entitled, "One Day in September," one thinks of 9/11.In fact, this was another September in 1972 with other innocent people killed.In 1972, Palestinian terrorists appeared at the 1972 Munich Olympics and took Israeli athletes hostages.Contributing to this documentary is one surviving terrorist, Jamal Al Gashey, who is in hiding. If you saw the film "Munich," which I recommend, you will see what happened to the other terrorists at the hands of the Israelis.This is a particularly anger-provoking documentary. There was minimum security at that Olympics so as not to upset the athletes. Okay. The Germans, of all people, did not have an anti- terrorist group, and their police were Keystone Cops.Israel offered to help, but they were turned down.In other words, any rescue attempt was ruined before it started.The Germans made lots of plans to rescue the athletes, and these were dutifully reported by the television press. Unfortunately, all the rooms holding the hostages had televisions, so the terrorists could see and hear about the plans before they happened.I did not feel that this documentary took sides, except in showing the incompetence of the Germans and the Olympics administration. The interview with Jamal Al Gashey was extensive, giving a play by play of what happened. He claimed there was no intention to kill the athletes. Well, they're dead.Worse yet, everyone was told that the final rescue attempt was successful and all of the hostages were alive, only for the families to find out later the news was incorrect. I can't get into a discussion of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict. I also have absolutely no intention of putting this heinous act into perspective, although the Palestinians have a viable point of view. I just don't think that was the way to address it. There is no perspective that justifies killing innocent people and holding them for ransom. The Israelis weren't going to give them anything -- if they did, no Israeli anywhere would have been safe.The Olympics make an attempting to further camaraderie among nations and bring people together. The wife of one of the victims gave a very poignant recitation, as did her daughter, who never knew her father.Sadly, in this world, there are many children who never knew their fathers, thanks to years and years of Middle East conflict. What's the answer? I don't even know the question.

cstotlar-1 No, I don't think this remarkable documentary was pro- anything. The Israeli team during the Munich Olympics was featured because they were on the all-star list. In fact all the contenders were stars as they always are during these world competitions. Of course we know their names. We have access to the names of every contestant and finally, every winner and loser. The fact that they come with biographies certainly isn't any surprise. That's the nature of the Olympics. We don't know much of anything about the terrorists. They weren't the athletes in the competition. Why should we know about them? This excellent film does not take sides, as hard as it must have been to avoid, or make any overtly political statements and this has been criticized in some quarters. Instead of presenting a political diatribe or a hate machine or a propaganda film, this documentary sticks to the facts, presented chronologically for the main part, and leaves the viewer to draw any conclusions. There are some conclusions we can hardly avoid but the film doesn't abet in trying to sway us. This is simply a tragedy reviewed and the inability to deal with the circumstances leading up to it in any practical way. The film whizzed by, as painful as part of it was to watch. There wasn't much to see about the personal reactions. That wasn't the purpose of this fine piece of work.Curtis Stotlar

paudie This is a top class documentary, telling the story of the events surrounding the murder of Israeli athletes and coaches in Munich in 1972. There is an interview with the last surviving Palestinian who took part in the attack. He describes being picked for the mission and the specific training undertaken. He is not remorseful in any way for the deaths that took place. There are also touching interviews with family members of the Israelis. Most damningly from the German point of view local police and politicians describe honestly how confused they were in trying to settle the crisis.The film sets the scene of the Munich Olympics, describing how anxious the organisers were for the games to be as carefree as possible leading to minimal security in the athletes village. Using remarkable news footage the film gradually builds up the tension as the Israelis are taken hostage. Negotiations with local politicians and police take place. A planned rescue by police is cancelled at the last minute.Eventually the Palestinians are offered a plane and a rescue mission is planned at the airport. This is a disaster for all kinds of reasons and all the hostages are killed. The surviving Palestinians are arrested.Even more chilling is the tacit admission by the Germans that the captured Palestinians were released deliberately by way of a "mock" hijack some months after the massacre.An amazing piece of living history.

mickoc It hardly comes as a surprise to find that many a rabid left wingers nose will be firmly knocked out of joint with a film such as 'one day in September'. No rose tinted spectacles here. This is not an Al jazeera offering. They are forced to view the murderous nihilistic reality of their beloved freedom fighters. So faced with cold hard facts which cannot be readily explained away they try another defense, namely accuse the film of being one sided and not show the situation of the Palestinians.One question: Is it a documentary about Palestine or about Munich in 1972? To be fair there is quiet a bit early on to put the situation in some sort of perspective and the surviving terrorist and his opinions are given plenty of air time.You don't hear much crying from the same quarters decrying one sidedness or bias when Michael Moore makes one of his ridiculous, so called, documentaries. I think most people are familiar with the Palestinian situation, but i, for one, had not heard anything about the madness that happened in Munich in 1972. When Kevin McDonald set out to make a documentary on what happened there then its hardly surprising that we see a film dealing with the events on that terrible day. If he set out to make a documentary on Palestine and how it was taken off the Arabs by the Jew's then he would have set to that task and not dwelt too much on how the Jew's had been banished from there two thousand years ago after moses had been promised this and that.As with the BBC journalist crying when Arafat was lifted out of his compound for the last time or those who would attempt a defense of the Palestinian murder spree in Munich there seems to be a different reality or level of understanding needed when it comes to issues about Palestine or its people so its hardly surprising that a documentary like this would raise hackles.This is an excellent film.