September 5 (2024)

I was aware of the terrible events that happened on September 5 1972 although I can’t say that I am an expert in it. This tells the story of that tragedy from the point of view of an American sports crew. The action takes place largely in the studio where they are directing the action and over the course of 95 minutes we see what happened mainly from the perspective of the crew but we still learn what is going on from seeing other interviews.

GOOD POINT 01 - LACK OF STAR POWER BUT STILL STRONG PERFORMANCES

There aren't any familiar names although I have probably seen the actors in things before and yet the lack of starpower doesn't hurt the film. In fact I would say it does the opposite, it means that you aren't spending your time thinking that a particular person looks like somebody they haven't seen for a while or why a particular actor has been cast in this role. The closest I came to recognising someone was Leonie Benesch who starred in The Teachers’ Lounge which I enjoyed very much last year. Everyone else was someone I had never seen before or didn't recognise and I think when you have something that is supposed to be as realistic as possible then lack of starpower is good.

GOOD POINT 02 - DOES NOT RECREATE SCENES INSIDE THE HOTEL

The temptation must have been there at sometime during production where they wanted to move action to inside the compound and thankfully they resisted. Everything that the characters learn comes the same way we learn about them and so there is no misinterpretation and another reason why I liked the fact there was no cutting to other locations is that it increases the tension and the claustrophobia and it is gradually increased as the film progresses and you don't realise it until quite late in the film.

GOOD POINT 03 -NICE MIX OF RECREATED FOOTAGE AND NEW FOOTAGE

The way that we see what is going on outside the gallery area is by seeing what is on the screens and there is a mixture of original footage and newly recorded. It was genuinely difficult to see what was newly recreated for the film and what wasn't. The attention to detail has helped make the footage a huge part of why the film has worked the way that it does. I cant imagine that this film had a big budget but they spent it where it mattered and the whole of the exterior footage was brilliantly put together and mixed in with the story.

GOOD POINT 04 - PERFECT RUNNING TIME

It’s a rare thing to be able to say that a film has the perfect running time but the film works perfectly well at 95 minutes. There is little fat and no time is wasted in getting things up and running. Once the situation is over the film takes the appropriate amount of time in winding down before the credits roll. The film was an hour and a half long but it felt a lot longer and that is a compliment because time flew by because my attention was completely on what was happening and that is such a rare and refreshing thing to experience in a modern film.

OVERALL

There are no negatives that I could take away from the film. Nothing even coming close to nitpicking when it comes to bad points and that shows how good the film is. It is currently my favourite film of the year and even though we are only in February it is hard to see a film beating this. The film is cast perfectly, had a great script and is directed really well and its hard to make something that is quite restrictive work as well as it does. Its nice to see that in 2025 there are still films that see they don't need to rely on theatrics to tell a great story and it feels like it does the real situation and casualties justice and deals with them in a respectful manner.