One Day in September (1999)

I think this is a new genre that they're all sort of working their way through it and haven't got all the kinks worked out yet but it's a genre that works for me.

Sorry, this movie sucks

Did you people see the same film I saw?

Not sure how, but this is easily one of the best movies all summer. Multiple levels of funny, never takes itself seriously, super colorful, and creative.

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

I had never heard of this movie before tonite, when I watched it on cable. from reading other reviews I understand that I didn't get to view some important but gruesome scenes. those scenes may have made the film even stronger, but believe me, "One Day in September" still packs a punch.the documentary covers the massacre of 11 Israeli athletes at the 1972 Munich Olympics, with an emphasis on the blundering (West) Germans who made a mess of the situation. Michael Douglas narrates, beautifully. for me, the interviews with survivors and family members were less interesting than the live-action scenes of the terror attack as it happened. it was especially moving to see Jim McKay ("They're all gone") and a little astonishing to watch the newspeople giving a play by play about the rescue attempt, which the terrorists were watching on TV along with the rest of us!I dimly remember the event, but I had either never known or had forgotten the details. for example, how truly craven the Olympic officials were--after Israel flew its dead back home, the games continued. (it's interesting watching it now, after the IOC's refusal to give a moment of silence at the 2012 London Olympics.) this is a very important movie for people to see. among other things, it reminds us that haters can always find a pretext for killing the people they despise. that's something we should especially remember these days, when another film is setting the Muslim world on fire, literally. I will definitely watch it again--this time with no cuts!

The core power of this documentary is the intelligently and very touching story as told by Ankie Spitzer, the wife of one of the athletes involved in this.Otherwise, this is a very straight-forward story of how the Olympic Games were hit by terrorists who took the Israeli squad hostage, making some quite incredible demands, and how the "rescue-mission" was completely botched by the German government, kind of shoot-aim-ready, in that order. I'm amazed by how it seems that very few people/governments were genuinely interested in helping out. Also, it felt very weird to me that the Olympics went on despite of the hostage-situation, which happened in the compound.The soundtrack to this documentary is quite bewildering at times, except when slo-mo film is shown of athletes competing. Michael Douglas' drawling voice is - thankfully - not applied often throughout the documentary.All in all: interesting, but if it weren't for Ankie Spitzer and a few other voices chiming in here, there wouldn't be much more than a cinematic equivalent of a Wikipedia entry to this.

This documentary is simply one of the best I've ever seen. The build-up is brilliant, the interviews with relatives are gripping and often heartbreaking.The laughing German general (Ulrich Wegener), who oversaw the worst terrorist rescue attempt in history, is just unreal. As was the entire operation. I knew something about the botched attempt but had no idea how bad it really was. If it happened like it did in a movie, you'd say it was rather far-fetched.The music, especially Moby and the Chronos Quartett is quite haunting and just stays in your head. The soundtrack was actually the reason I bought it on DVD, after first seeing it on the BBC.This piece of film is about One Day In September. Nothing more, nothing less. Yet obviously some people still don't get it. Blabbering on about the "social context of the Palestinian plight" or-what-have-you. Please go and watch Michael Moore's Waste o'Celluloid.