9/11

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Trailer—9/11

9/11

This is a really bad film. Basicly it's just about a few more people cashing in on Sept. 11, 2001. Can't blame them, it would have been simply stupid not to sell their material to millions of Americans willing to make that day the most important day in everyone's history. I guess most of the Americans will enjoy watching that movie because it won't mess with their views and beliefs, it will just deepen their experience of Sept. 11th as a global media event. I sure hope neither the directors of 9/11 nor the originators of the attacks on the WTC are planning a sequel.

Incredible documentary captured all the frenzied chaos and misery which loomed over NYC on that fateful morning of September 11th. Intense, personal, and completely riveting, 9/11 is perhaps the greatest documentary ever made by accident, which kind of gives it an even greater appeal. Up until that morning, filmmakers Gideon and Jules Naudet had been following around a New York firefighter team, concentrating specifically on one new recruit in a little piece they were shooting dealing with the rigorous training to become a fireman. Out with the team that morning filming yet another simple routine cleanup, Jules lifts his camera up to the sky just in time to record one of the only known images of the first plane hitting the World Trade Center, and from there a simple documentary was no more. Viewers are given a first hand account of what it was like to be in and around ground zero, as the amazing group of fire-fighters and one profoundly bewildered cameraman attempt to navigate this disaster. Without hesitation, Naudet follows these automatically programmed heroes into the tower while it's entire support crumbles around them. The raw fear of an unknown, impending doom lurks with more viability then any fictional production could ever fathom as we watch less and less become audible and visible for those trapped inside. Nearly as memorable is older brother Gideon's candid capturing of an entire city in the throngs of a larger and more palpable fear then anything they had collectively witnessed. By the time we get to see the second tower collapse, as the cameraman shields himself from apocalyptic debris, we should all but be rinsing the dirt off ourselves from the amazingly up-close footage captured. Obviously the filmmakers deserve only as much credit as being in the right place at the right time to document such an extraordinary event, though one can only admire the two brothers in their extraordinary adaptation to such an event; in a few desperate minutes we witness them become like the firemen they document- only instead of saving lives they knew they had to save footage, even if it cost them their own safety. After viewing 9/11, and seeing that it came out in 2002, I feel much more resentment towards Oliver Stone's recent rendition, the big budgeted World Trade Center. Many had criticized the film for ignorantly narrowing down the focus to those two survivors trapped in rubble, and although I enjoyed the movie just fine for the small and sentimental Hollywood focus it brought, 9/11 all but renders his film completely obsolete. Not only will this utterly gripping footage remain the only definitive collection from that day, but the sublime transfer of motives midway ensures that this documentary has all the heart and character needed to never sensationalize the event again.

The events of September 11 2001 do not need extra human interest in the shape of following the training of the rookie fireman or the progress of the two French brothers. In my view it would have been better to leave this out. I think the directors tried too hard, perhaps they felt that the events of the day needed a story as a backdrop. The comment of one of a policemen - "this aint f***ing Disneyworld" is apt. Nevertheless it is compelling viewing for the depiction of the events. The filmakers were in all the right places at the right times, no other footage from the day matches what they shot.

Unfortunately the disaster was far too shocking to rate compared to any normal film where you can rate the believability of special affects and acting abilities. However, I do not think the two French brothers added anything to the film making. They were very brave but happened to be in the wrong place at the right time. The music score was not very good and could have been greatly improved. A few of the shots could also have been better manipulated - for example black and white, slow motion etc. Also, real news footage could have been used more. This would have given it a more dramatic feel. This could have been accomplished without dumbing down the events and turning it into 'Worlds Greatest Disasters' Saturday night special. I feel a lot of readers are voting on the events - not the documentary film. The brothers had excellent, unparalleled footage and didn't make the most of it. One day, no doubt a hollywood blockbuster film will be made. Lets hope it gets made somewhere between this documentary and the unreal/untruthful Pearl Harbour type film. In summary, for the very few who don't know what happened that day - it is a must see. For those that did see the news in the last year, watching this will be like watching the out-takes/directors cut of a well known film.

Too many of us feast off of the world Hollywood feeds us and we convince ourselves in our comfortable western world that we are safe and secure and have a right to a privileged life. 9/11 is a film everyone should see. It hits home the reality of the world that we live in. It shows us what humanity is capable of, that is the capability to be both devastatingly evil and selflessly charitable. The film shows us the very definition of the good people of our world, the bad, the innocent and the guilty. New York holds a special place in my heart. I travel there whenever I can. I have had good times there. The last time I was at the WTC was a mere 5 months before the attack. I remember standing on the roof and enjoying the view of the Hudson River on a beautiful sunny afternoon. Whenever I watch 9/11 on DVD I sometimes find it difficult to accept that the very same place is shown falling apart and in flames. I had a cousin in the WTC of the day of the attacks. He was on the 92nd floor. Suffice it to say he did not survive. I was foolish enough not to see him the last time I was at the WTC. I will regret not doing so until he day I die. I forced myself to watch this documentary on the anniversary last year. I shall do so again on the second anniversary this coming Thursday. For me watching the events take place in this film really drives home for me the tragedy that happened that day to my cousin's family, my family, the city that I love, the United States, and even my own country, which was deeply affected. To me it it reminded me of why we must make the most of what we have in life because the are others in he world who have been less fortunate and we don't frankly know whether or not tomorrow will be our last day. Six months after the attacks I returned to Ground Zero. As emotional an experience as it was it did not affect me as much as this film. This is a must see film. It is a film about everyday people. It is a film about the strength of human spirit in those people. It is a film that will make you feel sick, make you cry and leave you silent when it ends. However, it will also make you appreciate the value of life.

Let me get the bad out of the way first, James Hanlon is absolutely terrible trying to act his descriptions of what was going on with the rookie training and events of the day. Really it is in stark contract to the other fire fighters without acting aspirations who are natural in their delivery. That said it is an amazing film that is impossible to watch without tears in my eyes. I am an English guy from London but I love New York and have visited many many times before and after September 11th. It is a second home to me and I can't help but feel devastated at the loss of life but also the destruction of part of such an amazing beautiful city. This is the real deal, in with the fire fighters with everything collapsing around them. I am so glad the footage exists to show people how it was on the day. It is a shame that they didn't use any footage of people jumping from the buildings because friends who were there tell me this is such a major part of their memory, it should be included to show future generations just how terrible it really was. Conspiracy theorists can go to hell by the way.

9/11 is a classic example of cinema verite, a sort of realist documentary, in this case of New York firemen as they battle against one of the most extraordinary events of world history. It's all tiny, unobtrusive, hand-held video cameras, often betrayed by the poor quality of most of the filming (and by the director, Naudet's hand frequently wiping the screen). In this film, you get to know most of the firemen - Tony Benatatos, the rookie (or 'probie', in NY fireman vernacular), the Fire Chief Joseph Pfeiffer (who finds he's lost his brother later on) and a few others. There are studio interviews with most of these people throughout the film, just to emphasise the personal, reflexive nature of the events. The build-up is quite dramatic and well-done, particularly the passing-out ceremony at the Fire Department, with a few useful swish-pans and a sort of dialectical editing of the rather limited filmwork (just like Rob Reiner's A Few Good Men). Tony looks proud. The viewpoint and camera angle is usually from amidst the firemen, which is interesting and there is some excellent footage from inside the lobby of WTC1 while Pfeiffer and his team plan what to do next - this is classic cinema verite. There is also the eery, haunting sound of the occasional human body crashing against the portico outside. It is then that an increasingly forlorn Fire Chief Pfeiffer realises that his task is desperate and probably hopeless - and this is before WTC2 collapses. You have to give credit to Naudet for knowing which faces to film and at which moment. The sound of the neighbouring WTC2 collapsing is so awfully sad, poignant and terrifying that you realise what an ordeal this is for the firemen. From the lobby, it looks, feels and sounds like the end of the world and the poor firemen look so utterly bewildered and frightened. You hear an enormous rumbling, trembling maelstrom - like that of a giant, monolithic beast slowly falling to the ground after being so mortally wounded - the neighbouring tower has collapsed yet the fire team remaining in WTC1 are oblivious to this event. Where is the communication? This film is captivating yet the narration is amateurish and should have been avoided - cues like 'this really was a day like no other' or Naudet's frequently banal pronouncements like 'you could see fear in everybody's eyes' and 'I knew Tony was freaking out'! The film is really just one long video diary. There are no pictures from higher up the building where some of the firemen have gone. Imagine this film blended with CCTV footage from some of the rooms higher up or some of the news coverage from the day. The effect would be greater. You could even combine this story with that of Mayor Giuliani and, perhaps, the famous Cornishman Rick Riscorla who literally was many floors up acting the hero. I don't see much of a propaganda element in this film, as some reviewers suggest. This film is no Triumph of the Will, by Riefenstahl. Some time later the firemen drape the American flag over a nearby, surviving building overlooking what has become Ground Zero. So what? There are also some moments of dubious camerawork; for example, who is holding the camera when the two Naudet brothers are reunited back at the fire station? Is it staged? There is an excellent finish, very much in the traditon of the excellent French director Alain Resnais (Hiroshima mon amour), with two strips of light reflected in the water, shimmying.