One Day In September

Released 1999
Narrated by Michael Douglas
Directed by Kevin Macdonald

Director Kevin Macdonald has dubbed One Day In September, a documentary thriller. And his dramatic account of the events that led up to the slaughter of the Israeli Olympics team by the extreme left-wing Palestinian group, Black September, at the Munich Games is truly riveting.

The result is a tragic tale of conspiracy and ineptitude, uncovered by research and persistence. It took the film-makers six months to persuade Zvi Zamir, the ex-head of Mossad, to agree to an interview, because he was so traumatised by what he had seen. Jamal Al Gashey, the sole surviving Palestinian terrorist, also gives his side of the story for the first time. But the evidence of political opportunism and cowardly cover-ups by those who were responsible for the operation, and the seeming indifference of the International Olympic Committee to the hostage's fate, is perhaps even more confronting.

Perhaps the most incredible material of all is that which reveals the incompetence of the German rescue operation. In one scene, television cameras are tracking 24 untrained police volunteers as they prepare to storm the building where the hostages are being held -- and it is screened directly to the terrorists, who have access to several television sets. Things just get worse from there.

A profoundly disturbing film.

Summary by Bill Alward