Israeli TV shows documentary of Munich murders

JERUSALEM (Reuters) -- Just days before the Olympic Games open in Sydney, Israeli television has shown for the first time an Oscar-winning film reliving the deaths of 11 Israeli athletes seized by Palestinians at the Munich Games in 1972.

	SCHEDULE
'One Day in September' will air on HBO in the U.S. on Monday, September 11 at 8 p.m. ET/PT

The makers of the documentary "One Day In September" agreed to blur forensic photographs of the murdered hostages in response to objections by the victims' relatives, but otherwise the version shown on Monday evening pulled no punches.

"Let us remember that for 28 years nobody talked about it, nobody wanted to remember. Now we have an Oscar-winning film which makes them remember," Arthur Cohn, the film's producer, told Israel Radio in an interview.

"The families of the victims...should appreciate the fact that, once and finally, people's attention is brought to the fact that the film says what happened in Munich."

The 90-minute film, which won this year's Academy Award for Best Documentary, uses television footage from the time to depict the drama after the athletes were captured by members of the Black September guerrilla group in the Olympic village.

Two hostages were murdered by the guerrillas and the remaining nine died at a nearby airport. The helicopter they were being held in was blown up during a shootout between the police and guerrillas, who had been offered a deal to fly out.

The film's criticism of the International Olympic Committee (IOC), which let the Games go on after the athletes were taken hostage in the Olympic village, sounded a jarring note before the Sydney Games and highlighted the need for tight security.

The film also revived memories of a bloody era in relations between Israel and the Palestinians before a mutually agreed deadline for concluding a peace treaty to end 52 years of conflict passes this week without a breakthrough.

Interview with surviving hostage-taker

The Jerusalem Post newspaper hailed the 90-minute documentary, which had its first public viewing in Israel in Tel Aviv in April shortly after winning, as a "must-see."

"It's like watching a well-made action thriller -- except the story is true, and, lamentably, you know going in how the plot will turn out," it wrote.

Some critics abroad have said the film says too little about the motives of the guerrillas, who had hoped to exchange their hostages for Palestinian prisoners and wanted to publicize the struggle for a Palestinian state.

Israel and the Palestinians had hoped to conclude a peace deal by Wednesday and Palestinian leaders had said they might declare an independent state the same day. A lack of progress at peace talks has stalled both the agreement and the declaration.

The film includes interviews with the only surviving hostage-taker, the head of the Munich Olympic village, an official from the Munich police force and relatives of some of the victims.

It depicts the botched rescue attempts by the German authorities and highlights the fact that the Games went on after the crisis began by contrasting the footage of the standoff with the guerrillas with sports action.

Cohn defended the use of graphic images and photographs of some of the victims' bodies, but said the film's makers had agreed to respect the wishes of the victims' relatives and blurred the pictures of the corpses.

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