Sightlines · reception
How September 5 was received
2024 · Tim Fehlbaum · September 5 on Sightlines
The arc
It rode a wave of Venice and Telluride acclaim in late 2024 straight to a Best Original Screenplay Oscar nomination — but landing mid-Gaza-war, its reception was immediately shadowed by arguments over whether its tight control-room POV was rigorous or evasive.
What’s debated
The debate is whether staying locked inside the ABC control room is a brilliant formal discipline or a dodge — a way of making a Munich-massacre film without taking a position on Munich.
Its footprint
Cinephiles instantly filed it as a double feature with Spielberg's Munich and the journalism-procedural canon, and it put Jim McKay's devastating real 1972 broadcast — 'They're all gone' — back into circulation for a new generation.
Where it stands
A fresh, well-liked entry in the Letterboxd journalism-thriller shelf alongside Spotlight and All the President's Men — too new for canon, but already the 'tight 94-minute procedural' people recommend.
Did you know? Jim McKay is never played by an actor: the film uses only the real 1972 ABC archival footage of his broadcast, with the cast performing their scenes in reaction to the actual tapes.
Named by the director
- United 93 (2006) — Fehlbaum has repeatedly cited Greengrass's film as a favorite and a model — a scripted drama shot like vérité documentary, confined to one space with a narrow window onto the tragedy outside.
- One Day in September (1999) — Fehlbaum pointed to Kevin Macdonald's Oscar-winning documentary on the Munich attack as the forensic groundwork the film built on.