September 5: How much of the film is true?

Now, the attack forms the basis of a new film titled September 5, which tells the story from the perspective of the ABC TV crew covering the Games (and which has already gained a nomination in the Best Original Screenplay category at the upcoming Oscars).

Past Lives star John Magaro plays the relatively inexperienced sports producer Geoffrey Mason, who was thrown in at the deep end and tasked with overseeing the live coverage of the hostage crisis, while the cast also includes Peter Sarsgaard as ABC Sports president Roone Arledge and Ben Chaplin as Marvin Bader, the head of operations at the network.

But just how close to the truth is the depiction of events in the film? Read on for everything you need to know.

September 5: How much of the film is true?

On the whole, September 5 presents a very accurate depiction of events from the perspective of the ABC Sports crew – and indeed, much of what we see in the film is archive footage from the actual live coverage, so it can't get more true to life than that.

Furthermore, extensive research was carried out by the production team to ensure that everything we see behind the scenes of the coverage was true to the television equipment used at the time, with a production design team drafted in to create an authentic replica of the broadcasting facility that was used by ABC Sports.

Meanwhile, many of the specific details, for example the scene in which ABC employee Gary Slaughter (Daniel Adeosun) disguised himself as an athlete to gain access to the Olympic Village and smuggle in recording equipment, also match up with the historical record.

Still, this is a dramatisation rather than a documentary, and so there are one or two things that don't quite measure up to the real events: for example, there was no such person as Marianne Gebhardt, the translator in the film played by Leonie Benesch.

As for the events of the hostage crisis themselves, these are depicted broadly accurately.

As is shown in the film, eight members of the Palestinian militant organisation Black September took 11 members of the Israeli Olympic team hostage – killing two almost instantly – after infiltrating the Olympic Village.

In return for the release of the hostages, the group demanded the release of a significant number of Palestinians and non-Arab prisoners who were being held in Israel at the time, threatening to kill another hostage for every hour their demands went unanswered.

It's also true that the assailants themselves saw ABC's coverage of the events, which led to one planned rescue mission being called off, and that ABC falsely reported the later failed rescue mission at Munich-Riem Airport had been successful.

Ultimately, all of the hostages were killed at the airport, while one West German police officer and five of the eight Black September members were also killed following the police ambush.

Of course, it's important to note that the context and background that led to these events is long and complex, and the film's release at a time where tensions between Israel and Palestine remain extremely high has drawn criticism from some quarters.

That said, this particular film is more about a moment in live TV broadcasting than it is about the conflict itself – and while it stresses the extremely challenging nature of reporting these events live, it is also at times critical of the manner in which the coverage unfolded.

Speaking at a Venice Film Festival press conference ahead of the film's premiere last year (via Deadline), director Tim Fehlbaum said of the current war in Gaza and the Middle East: "We don’t want to make a political statement on that. Of course, for us, we did our research and everything that led to that day, but at the end, the movie only shows the media perspective."

September 5 is now showing in UK cinemas.

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