Swiss director Tim Fehlbaum’s “September 5” takes an unusual approach to the story of the terrorist attack on the Israeli Olympic team at the 1972 Summer Olympics in Munich, which ended with the deaths of the 11 athletes and coaches who had been taken hostage. For most of its running time, the Paramount film never leaves the ABC Sports studio where a staff accustomed to broadcasting sporting events tried to cover breaking news that was going out to an estimated 1 billion viewers worldwide.
By focusing on a control room, a small studio and a few offices and hallways, the film situates its big story in a small, crowded pressure cooker — and that’s how Fehlbaum and his longtime cinematographer Markus Förderer shot it, too.