Ten days into the 1972 Munich Olympics, eight members of the Palestinian Black September group stormed the Israeli team quarters and demanded the release of 236 political prisoners. Twenty-one hours later, 11 Israelis, five terrorists and one German policeman were dead. Awarded the Oscar for Best Documentary, Kevin Macdonald's film is a meticulously researched and revelation-packed insight.
Seamlessly inserted into archive footage, politicians, cops, relatives and reporters offer their recollections, but none is as revealing as Jamal Al Gashey, the terrorists' leader, in his first-ever interview. But what makes this jaw-slackening expose of institutionalised incompetence so compelling is the understated disbelief with which Macdonald presents his damning evidence.