One Day in September

BBC Four showed the film "One Day in September" late the other night. It was like the filmic equivalent of a book that you can't put down.

The old Yiddish proverb that opens Primo Levi's book "The Periodic Table" has been echoing around my head ever since the broadcast:
"Ibergekumene tsores iz gut tsu dertseylin," or "Troubles overcome are good to tell."
The particular trouble, or sorrow, told in the compelling film was the murder of Israeli athletes at the 1972 Munich Olympics. There were a number of things that made the narrative so strong. The moving testimony of Ankie Spitzer, whose husband was killed, wove a powerful central thread through the film, but it was interspersed with an interview given by one of the terrorists involved in his death, as well as the words of others who were there in Munich, watching the drama unfold. Graphic images of the athletes being held hostage and the tragic aftermath were shown, all accompanied by a soundtrack of 70s music. Michael Douglas provided a matter-of-fact voice over that linked the film together, but his tone seemed to add to the impact of the story being told. The 1972 Olympics carried on, even after the Israeli athletes were killed. Today that seems almost unbelievable. The film gives an appropriate significance to an event that, at the time that it happened, was rapidly pushed aside by the media, the authorities, seemingly the world.

In recent years the Munich tragedy has been the focus of more media attention, with Stephen Spielberg's film "Munich" telling the story (mostly fictionalised, or so I've read) of the operation to kill all of the terrorists involved. I'm not sure about watching "Munich", because the real events told in "One Day in September" seem to speak for themselves to me. The film was so good, so supremely well put together, that it drew you in. Any hint of fiction would muddy the waters too much for me. The clarity of expression and the forcefulness of the truth are two of the things that make "One Day in September" such a good film and something that it is worth watching. If you haven't already seen it, then I really urge you to do so.

In general, too, the feature length documentary is a genre that should be encouraged. It offers the chance for stories to be told in depth, for issues to be explored, for tales of troubles overcome to receive the wider audience that they deserve. Troubles overcome aren't just good to tell, the method of their telling can assure their place in history.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/bbcfour/documentaries/storyville/one-day-september.shtml
http://www.sonypictures.com/classics/oneday/index.html