What is it about a good news-gathering movie? The pleasure of watching skilled, doggedly determined people coming together to tell a story, to shape the chaos of the world into something comprehensible makes for evergreen cinematic fodder, from “All the President’s Men” to “The Insider” to “Spotlight.” Add “September 5” to that list, which tackles the slippery madness of live television reporting, essentially invented by the ABC Sports team during the 1972 Olympic Games in Munich, during the hostage situation that unfolded in the Olympic Village, which ended in tragedy. The massacre still looms large in the historical memory, especially for the Munich-based filmmaking team behind the crackerjack newsroom thriller “September 5.” Since these were the first Olympic Games broadcast live via satellite, it was also the first time an attack such as this was broadcast to a global audience of millions, a watershed moment in media evolution. At a quick and gripping 95 minutes, it’s remarkable how writer/director Tim Fehlbaum marshals a large ensemble cast, makes an already well-known event feel like an urgent and unpredictable crisis, and allows the audience to ponder the larger implications of the characters’ choices. The script is by Fehlbaum, Moritz Binder, and Alex David, and Fehlbaum’s crew delivers an impeccably crafted piece of filmmaking that spills the guts of live TV in fascinating ways. Cinematographer Markus Förderer’s camera restlessly roves around the dim production office, perfectly designed by Julian R. Wagner, stuffed with analog tech. Hansjörg Weißbrich’s edit seamlessly weaves together everything — including extensive archival footage — tracking many different characters, movements and screens in this film that immediately plunges you into this world, but allows the situation to unfold moment-to-moment. It’s not easy to make things look effortless, and Fehlbaum’s film fluidly captures that behind-the-scenes effort: the sweat, the teamwork, the disagreements, the problem-solving, the cunning, the pleading, and yes, the mistakes that went into the ABC reporting that day. There’s a trio of decision-makers running the show, played the terrific threesome of Peter Sarsgaard as Roone Arledge, Ben Chaplin as Marvin Bader and John Magaro as Geoff Mason, our ostensible lead, as we follow him throughout the day. Geoff is a young upstart, having directed live television covering golf tournaments and minor league baseball. He’s suddenly thrust into the highest pressure live television directing situation of all time as it becomes clear that a group of Palestinian commandos known as Black September have taken the Israeli Olympic team hostage in their apartments in the Olympic Village. Improvising on the fly, the team — normally used to covering sports — has to weigh their competitive desire to own the story, represented by the hard-charging Roone, with the cautious temperance of Marvin, who urges restraint in case they broadcast violence to concerned families watching at home. Much of the appeal of “September 5” lies in simply watching people who are very good at their jobs do them well, as these well-trained, knowledgeable professionals utilize their skills, emotional intelligence and critical thinking in their storytelling craft, even as they falter and flail in the chaos of the situation. They continue to do the work no matter what, hand-setting captions and chyrons, developing film in a dark room, editing on-site and creating complex systems of communications with walkie-talkies, speakerphones and television sets.Related Articles Movies & TV | Review: Timothée Chalamet is the best thing about the Bob Dylan biopic ‘A Complete Unknown’ Movies & TV | ‘Nightbitch’ review: Amy Adams goes feral in a cautionary tale of love and parental imbalance Movies & TV | Movie review: Though earnest and visually dazzling, ‘Moana 2’ is more dull than shiny Movies & TV | Holiday movie season: ‘A Complete Unknown,’ ‘Moana 2,’ ‘Nosferatu’ lead the way Movies & TV | Oscars 2025: Early assumptions. True or false? Watching the process of live television being made by hand is a thrill, but this almost fetishistic approach to process does allow the filmmakers to skirt the political. The film is somewhat neutral when it comes to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, focused instead on the ethics of rapid-response journalism. If anything, the film is more concerned with the failure of the German law enforcement response to the massacre and the communication errors by top government officials. Leonie Benesch plays a German translator for ABC who represents the new German generation, carrying the burden of history even if they were not a part of it. Munich was the first Olympic Games in the country since the 1936 Berlin Games, held under the Nazi regime, and in the film there is a strong desire for Germany to cleanse their public image, to shed their Nazi shame. A lack of security, training and poor communication result in the situation spinning out of control, and ultimately in tragedy, all seen through the perspective of an unprepared newsroom trying to make sense of these events in the moment. Avoiding any significant comment on the longtime conflict between Israel and Palestine, “September 5” is tightly focused on how television news systems work, and how this unique moment supercharged its evolution. While it is a thrilling, compulsively compelling watch, a good old-fashioned character ensemble piece, the message at hand is about the burden of responsibility in telling a story like this, and the catastrophic mistakes that can happen in these moments too. ‘September 5’ 3 stars (out of 4) MPA rating: R (for language) Running time: 1:35 How to watch: In theaters on Friday, Dec. 13.