"World Trade Center" - A Few More Thoughts
Category: Movies...
Posted Saturday, August 12, 2006 at 10:45 PM [GMT-6]

I'm not someone who normally looks to the movies for education, nor do I tend to seek out films that are designed to "make me think." I'm too skeptical of Hollywood's motivations and agendas to imbue most movies with any value beyond that of simple entertainment. But, I have a very short list of exceptions.

The Passion of the Christ is on that list, and now, so is World Trade Center.

I suspect that I'm no different than most of you in this regard: I don't need to see a movie, however sincerely envisioned or well crafted, to remember 9/11 and how it changed our nation. However, that day's events birthed a multitude of individual stories, as numerous as the individuals and families who were directly involved in those events, and there's merit in being present during the telling (or retelling) of some of those stories. And that's what World Trade Center was to me...a chance to see and hear some of those stories, the reality of which were lived by some of my neighbors.

Oliver Stone has crafted a love letter to first responders, pure and simple. As awesome (and sensitively presented) as the actual attack and destruction of the Twin Towers was, those scenes became simply a backdrop against which we see the true definition of heroism: people doing great things not because they are not afraid, but in spite of their fear.

World Trade Center is a masterpiece of technical movie-making, no doubt about it. With only a few exceptions, I couldn't distinguish actual footage from 9/11 from re-created footage. Much of the "action" was implied, with the loss of absolutely none of the drama and emotion. But in the end, it's a pretty simple and wonderful account of people caring about other people.

The contrast is stark, isn't it? On September 11, 2001, 20 people made it their lives' work to kill 3,000. On that same day, thousands of people risked their lives to save 20. And while we probably don't need a movie to remind us of that contrast, there's still value in the reinforcement offered by one like World Trade Center.

Note: At the end of the movie, some onscreen text dedicates the film to the fallen first responders. A list of the names of those who died on 9/11 rolls immediately following those notes. I shouldn't have to say this, but -- please -- help honor those people by remaining seated for the 15 seconds it takes for their names to appear. Only about half the people in our showing did so. I'm sure those that got up and left during that segment meant no disrespect, but I found it a bit unsettling that they would do so.