A tense retelling of the Black September attack on the Olympics, told entirely through the news room and its staff. It's a clever way of telling the story, rather unique in its execution, and a boiling pot of dread. It manages to juggle the topics of journalistic responsibility, the legacy of the 2nd World War (one character is increasingly concerned with how her homeland is handling this incident so soon after a blot on history) and sensationalism, all while building a tense bottle movie, with neat and clever little touches where characters have to constantly be improvising and adapting on the fly, inventing things and coming up with solutions. It's ever escalating, believable, and never falls into that standard "period piece" trap of putting characters in thick moustaches and bell bottoms to convey that we're in the 70s; instead using accutely observed period details like "what is a terrorist?" and how the machines and technology work, which also help to keep the pacing rapid fire and buttery smooth. It whizzes by as a film, and I particularly enjoyed the things it had to say and the questions its characters asked ("Are we helping the terrorists by showing this?" "Whose story does this become?", "Is now really the time to be arguing with networks over whose jurisdiction this covers?", "Are we really helping or are we being ghoulish and unpleasant?"); it has earned its reputation and does an excellent job.
Oh, and the actual shots of the situation are done as a horror film, impeccable work, and Corey Johnson is in this!
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