It's not the filmmaking that makes "One Day in September" so shocking and, ultimately, so memorable, it's the material.

In fact, if it didn't retell one of the most horrifying periods in Olympic Games history, the film would likely have been an outright dud, because this is some of the most shamefully manipulative — even exploitative — pieces of documentary filmmaking ever.

And the fact that the movie received an Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature last year should be considered a slap in the face to those whose films were also nominated, and even some who weren't. (Let's not even start on the ridiculous Oscar loopholes that allowed this film, which hadn't even been exhibited yet, to win the award.)

Yet, despite the film's many flaws, it's still a powerful, disturbing story — one that you can't easily shake, especially when you consider that Utah is bracing for the spectacle that is the Olympics in a little less than a year.

"One Day in September" revisits the darkest day of the Munich Summer Games, Sept. 5, 1972, when a Palestinian terrorist organization calling itself Black September kidnapped 11 Israeli athletes and coaches.

Director Kevin Macdonald attempts to re-create the 21 hours of dread and tension that followed, using archival footage and interviews with relatives of those killed in the ensuing airport shootout.

He also tries to explain exactly how it is that eight terrorists, disguised as athletes, broke into the Olympic village and took the Israeli team hostage, killing one of the coaches in the process.

Among the film's contentions is that Olympic officials pushed German authorities into a quick resolution so the Games could continue with only a brief interruption, while the clearly unprepared local army and police forces bungled their way through an ill-thought-out attempt to take out the kidnappers at a nearby military airport.

Of the film's many conceits, possibly the most ludicrous one is allowing the sole surviving terrorist, Jamal Al Gashey (now living in seclusion in Africa), to tell his side of the story.

But without a history lesson to explain the sociopolitical state of the Middle East at the time, his words wring hollow and have no context. Besides, after what the terrorists did to the athletes, no amount of apologizing is going to make him seem sympathetic.

Also, none of the German officials in power are present to explain their actions — or lack thereof — although anti-terrorist authority Ulrich K. Wegener, who was appointed after the tragedy, is interviewed (and, judging by his rather inappropriate laughter, seems to find the situation more amusing than anyone should).

Then there's the bland, emotionless narration by Michael Douglas, which adds nothing to the film. And to be honest, Macdonald's one strong skill here seems to be building tension about the progress of the tragic event, though many of us already know how it turned out.

"One Day in September" is rated R for archival footage of violent shootouts and glimpses of graphic crime-scene photos (some of which are extremely gory). Running time: 92 minutes.

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E-MAIL: jeff@desnews.com