Germany – STREAMING MOVIE NIGHT

2024 Constantin Film

Rated: R

Length: 1 hr 35min

Drama ~ History ~ Thriller ~ True Story

Starring: Peter Sarsgaard, John Magaro, Ben Chaplin, and Leonie Benesch.

The Day Terror Went Live

During the 1972 Summer Olympics in Munich, Germany two very important events took place that altered the course of history. ABC Sports was covering the event live in Munich with a full team and broadcasting live worldwide via satellite for the first time ever, and a Terrorist group named Black September broke into the apartments housing the Israeli athletes and took them hostage. They immediately demanded release of 200 Palestinian prisoners being held in Israel. Word spread quickly and the ABC Sports News Team jumped into action covering every minute of the ordeal and broadcasted it worldwide. It was the first ever televised Olympics and a terrorist attack in real time. September 5 recreates the event from the perspective of the ABC crew in their control room.

FROM THE OFFICIAL WEBSITE:

“September 5” unveils the decisive moment that forever changed media coverage and continues to impact live news today. Set during the 1972 Munich Summer Olympics, the film follows an American Sports broadcasting team that quickly adapted from sports reporting to live coverage of the Israeli athletes taken hostage. Through this lens, “September 5” provides a fresh perspective on the live broadcast seen globally by an estimated one billion people at the time.

At the heart of the story is Geoff (John Magaro), a young and ambitious producer striving to prove himself to his boss, the legendary TV executive Roone Arledge (Peter Sarsgaard). Together with German interpreter Marianne (Leonie Benesch) and his mentor Marvin Bader (Ben Chaplin), Geoff unexpectedly takes the helm of the live coverage. As narratives shift, time ticks away, and conflicting rumours spread, with the hostages’ lives hanging in the balance, Geoff grapples with tough decisions while confronting his own moral compass.

Interwoven with real footage from that day it is a fascinating look at the events that happened and the quick thinking of the ABC team in real time as they decided that since they had the capability, the world should see the events unfolding before them. It is also an interesting look at TV production in real time without the aid of computers and graphics. There is an interesting scene where we see how they came up with titles to overlay on the live feed. Very interesting stuff, way different than now when we can quickly add graphics to video in seconds.

It is a True Story and you know I love the True Story Movies. It is also a really good movie, you feel as if you are right there in the control room with them sweating out every second and every decision. Very well done down to the details in the control room, I was eyeing some of the vintage audio gear on the wall. Very Authentic!

I highly recommend this one. Give it a go!

2024 Motion Blur/Netflix

Rated: Not Rated

Length: 1 hr 52min

Biography ~ Drama ~ True Story ~ War

Directed by: John Andreas Andersen

Starring: Sjur Vatne Brean, Erik Hivju and Philip Helgar

“I have five drawers in my head. I closed the bottom drawer May 8th, 1945 and I haven’t opened it since.”

Sjur Vatne Brean (as the younger Gunnar) and Erik Hivju (as the older Gunnar) star as Gunnar Sønsteby in this Norwegian Film by Scandinavian Motion Picture Company Motion Blur. They also released the Movies Troll and Troll 2. It was released in October 2024 in Scandinavia, and released by Netflix worldwide January 1, 2025. It became the most popular film of 2024 in Norway at the time of it’s release, and it was viewed over 9 million times in it’s first week on Netflix. Number 24 is the True Story of Gunnar Sønsteby who was a young man in Oslo, Norway in 1940 when the Germans invaded. The movie is based on the autobiographical Novel Report From #24: The Thrilling Tale of Norway’s Most Decorated World War II Hero by Gunnar Sønsteby ~ May 1, 2017.

The movie starts with the elder Gunnar getting ready to speak to a group of University students. He spent the rest of his life after the war giving lectures about his experience in WWII to pass on the lessons learned to future generations. “As long as I live, I will tell the important facts. The Historians can analyze, but I was there.” As he starts to recount his story, the movie flashes back to Gunnar in 1940 as the Germans invade Oslo. He was a 21 year old young man working as an accountant when Germany launched it’s Blitzkrieg on Norway. The movie flashes back and forth between the elder Gunnar giving a lecture, and the younger Gunnar in Oslo during WWII as he narrates the story.

When the Germans invaded Oslo, Gunnar made a very deliberate decision to fight no matter what. He joined the initial Norwegian Resistance fighters which was a very unorganized rag-tag group of young Norwegian Citizens determined to fight the Nazi’s. Gunnar quickly saw that they needed to be better organized, and rose to the forefront of the resistance as an organizer and leader. He was eventually recruited by the secret British Special Operations where he became known as “Agent 24”. An undercover agent largely responsible for a lot of the covert operations in Norway. He later became a member of the infamous “Oslo Gang”, a sabotage group responsible for halting German operations in Norway.

Gunnar Sønsteby is Norway’s most Highly Decorated Citizen, having been awarded several medals including the War Cross, Norway’s most prestigious medal for his war efforts. It is a somber but fascinating story and a great movie. The sadism and inhumane cruelty of The Nazi regime is hinted at in the movie. Most notably in one scene early on where the Nazi’s torture one of the resistance fighters with hot motor oil. Barbaric. I was completely transfixed by the story and the movie. Unbelievable what Gunnar went through and the risks he took to stop the Germans.

I only have one complaint, and it is totally a personal one. It has nothing to do with Gunnar nor the movie. I am not a big fan of foreign movies that are overdubbed or sub-titled, in fact I avoid them. I really get immersed in a movie, I like to transport myself into it. Really get lost in it, feel like you are right there with the characters. There is nothing like a sub-title to completely blow the illusion for me. Or really bad overdubbed voices that don’t match the physical movement of the actor’s mouth, that really gets me. I can’t watch, if it’s bad right off the bat, I’ll quit watching.

That being said, Netflix did a good job with this one. At first it bugged me because I’m such a snob about overdubbing, but they did a good job and the story quickly overcame any discrepancy in the dubbing. It is a fascinating look at a horrendous time in Norway and a young man who said no and took a stance. The courage, determination and bravery of Gunnar Sønsteby helped change the course of the war in Norway and saved his country.

Bravo to Gunnar Sønsteby and Number 24, a great man and a great movie!

Highly Recommended!

Two Thumbs up!