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6

Left a bad taste in my mouth. Applies the context of the Holocaust to the "Israeli-Arab conflict" but completely uninterested in Arabs, their history, their culture, who they are as people, or anything to do with them at all other than showing them as shadowy villains, terrorist monsters lurking under American beds. You could replace Palestinians with The Boogeyman or Darth Vader in the script and nothing about the movie would change except for a single line because the film's attempt at feigning neutrality is to eliminate Palestine from the narrative as much as possible. Part of this is due to the limited, Sorkinian approach to storytelling (which unfortunately extends to its suffocated visuals), but even then that doesn't excuse…

7

propulsively paced, exceptionally edited, and well-acted across-the-board (john magaro mvp, per usual), but the frustratingly “apolitical” script lacks crucial context and the film’s questionable timing is even more so with that in mind

8

If you watched “Saturday Night” and thought I wish there was less comedy and more terrorism then this is the movie for you

3

Finding it weird how much this straight-down-the-middle drama has inspired me to do this but I think I'm going to go pretty long on this fairly soon. This is incredibly well-acted (Ben Chaplin in particular is throwing HEATERS) and pretty electric in moments, much of that owed to how intimate and claustrophobic the camera is, but I spent the entire runtime feeling sick to my stomach.

In its efforts to remain apolitical and show the broadcast "as it was," it's absolutely choosing a side that does nothing but present Palestinians as nameless, faceless monsters. The minute you turn a camera on, you're framing a perspective. How you cut from one image to another is loaded with meaning. It's impossible not…

13

This is a made-for-HBO movie from 1996, but it’s a good one and we deserve those, too.

8

One of Peter Sarsgaard’s earliest lines of dialogue is the statement, “It’s not political, it’s about the emotions”. In contrast, in September 5’s attempt at spotlighting the emotions of its central figures, it becomes a deeply political film. Through all its frequent and well-placed moments of humanizing all other people involved, the image of the Palestinian militants grows more and more blurred and featureless. In this film, these are faceless men eager to enact evils of seemingly no explanation. Mention of their demands, the release of 200+ Palestinian prisoners, is fleeting and never questioned or pursued as a possible piece of the story. September 5 doesn’t want you to ask about the Palestinians’ motivations at all nor what led to a…

34

Why this story? Why now?

It feels icky to hear about a "palestinian hostage takeover" with the mire of complexities that are going on in the world rn. I was fascinated by the aspect of the news crews working in real time to figure out how to cover it, but in of who is portrayed sympathetically, and who are unnamed terrorist, this movie clearly has staked its ground in a camp that i am not super interested in being a part of.

Production design and archival footage is well incorporated, and the idea that abc chooses to break news not because it is correct, but because it is first is a theme worth investigating, but this film felt played…

Review by Mariane Tremblay

Venezia 81 - screening #3

I’m sorry, but it felt like watching Israeli propaganda.

25

On a technicality it’s a well made flick but uuuuh free Palestine. I don’t know what else to say???? Feels like it tries to be so apolitical but can’t escape its terrible downright deliberate timing to be released in the now. Decent movie but fuck off paramount.

Review by theo ★★★½ Liked

what is it with terrorists and september

6

people will surely be normal about this one

4

If you watch this movie about real people and real events with real footage and think “propaganda,” something is deeply wrong with you.