World Trade Center
Entertainment Weekly said it best, that World Trade Center is director Oliver Stone’s “least controversial movie ever [made] out of the most polarizing subject matter on the planet: 9/11.” Much fuss was made over the release of United 93, essentially a mini-biopic of the passengers on that ill-fated place. 2003’s short film compilation September 11 was an emotional reaction to the events of that day. This movie is only related to those two in that the events take place on the same day; this is a movie first and foremost about human courage and will. With no disrespect, this could be a movie set during any random disaster in human history, in that it only follows the experience of these two men and only very tangentially connected to the larger picture of the fallout of that day.
World Trade Center centers on two Port Authority policemen trapped in the rubble of the collapsed twin towers. It’s not about who did this, and why, and what should our reaction be. It’s about what will give these men the will to live, why they were strong enough to go into the chaos in the first place, and whether they will escape with their bodies and lives intact. It’s about people, not politics, and it’s very effective. It’s easy to forget about the individual losses and things that occurred on that day, considering the global aftermath, and this movie is a great reminder.
I had some trouble making out some of the dialogue, but otherwise this film was beautifully crafted. He shot this from the perspective of the participants, so people don’t know what’s happening, how the disaster started, anything like that, just the immediate urgency of the surrounding area. Paper and ash and bodies and screaming and running and fire and chaos and later, rubble and ash, and distant, unidentifiable creaks and scrapes. The shots of the outside are incredible – being implanted in the news footage burned into our minds, rather than seeing it from a safe distance.
I cared about these characters and it was a great journey to let myself be emotionally overwhelmed by their experience. It’s a small, small part of the global experience of that day, but a brilliant picture in how such events would affect a man so profoundly.
I was able to withhold any outward sign of emotion until Stone gave us a momentary look outside of the rubble of the World Trade Center to remind us of the reactions of people all over the world upon hearing of the attacks. I think that was his tip of the hat to make us think, “Do you think they would feel the same way if it happened today?” Stone never succumbs to his own reputation, giving us a pure hearted movie about two men with an iron will. They aren’t superheroes. They see the chaos, see the smoking towers, feel the fear thrumming through the streets of New York, and they hesitate. They are afraid. It’s OK to be afraid – to not be afraid in that situation would be to be stupid or insane. Courage is feeling the fear and acting anyway, and that is what these men did.
When President Bush named September 11 Patriot Day, I was infuriated. It should be a memorial or testament, not some jingoistic codswallop. Here was a day where hundreds or thousands of brave public servants went to their near or certain death doing their jobs in impossible circumstances. They did this on a day with the coincidental digits as the phone number you dial for their help, for pete’s sake. That day should have been named Public Servants Day or Fire and Safety Day or something to honor the police and firemen and all those uniformed civil servants who do such important work for us, and he named it effing Patriot Day. Soldiers get Memorial and Veteran’s Day, these guys deserve a day, at least. Perhaps this movie will make the difference.
year=2006
mpaa=PG-13
studio=Paramount Pictures
director=Oliver Stone
runningtime=125
myrating=Matinee with Snacks
