One Day in September

With the 20th Olympic Games, held in Munich in 1972, Germany hoped to erase memories of the 1936 Berlin games, exploited for propaganda purposes by Adolph Hitler and the Nazis. Early on, the world cheered Mark Spitz and Olga Korbut, the games' breakout stars, but on Sept. 5, it held its breath as Palestinian terrorists took 11 members of the Israeli Olympic team hostage, demanding the release of 236 political prisoners. Kevin Macdonald's Academy Award-winning documentary chronicles this dark and tragic chapter in Olympic history, aided by the unexpected coup--for want of a better word--of the participation of Jamal Al Gashey, the lone surviving terrorist who was 18-years-old at the time of the attack, and remains in hiding. Gashey describes his transformation from "wretched refugee" into "a revolutionary fighting for a cause" and matter-of-factly charts the operation, which was inadvertently abetted by lax security at the games. At the heart of the film is a moving interview with the widow of Andre Spitzer, the Israeli fencing coach, who, she remembers, "tried to channel aggression into respect for your opponent." She recalls a touching incident in which her husband approached members of the athletes from Lebanon, a country then at war with Israel, and for that moment forged a bond that exemplified the Olympic spirit. Tragically, the German authorities were ill equipped to deal with the crisis and the "Olympics of Terror" would end with the athletes dead. Three of the terrorists survived, and in galling footage, are seen holding a press conference after the bloodbath. "It helped our cause enormously," one states. "Before Munich, the world had no idea about our struggle. But on that day, the name 'Palestine' was repeated all over the world." Highly recommended. (K. Lee Benson)