World Trade Center

[Andykev]

Today, I saw the new Oliver Stone film, WORLD TRADE CENTER.

I was disappointed in the film itself, but the scenes of the entrapment of the NYPD/Port Authority officers was chilling. The film bounces from the usual day at the office, to the attack, and subsequent collapse of the WTC building(s). There are numerous flashback scenes where you get to know the private lives of the trapped officers.

I will say, the film shows mainly the heroic efforts of the fine NYFD, and NYPD Officers and Military to save lives.

The film does show quite well the "Ground Zero" area, and special effects are enough to "put you there". It is shocking in that you are brought back in time to September 11, 2001.

The theater was almost empty.

As a side note, from a comparison of Peral Harbor, 7 December 1941, to 11 September, 2001...in the time it took Oliver Stone to put this film in theaters...five years, in WWII our Nation mobalized and marched in the ETO and PTO, crushing Nazi Germany, Italy, and The Empire of Japan. That thought just struck me as I left the theater.

 

[jazzzbaby]

Hey ~ Thanks for the Movie Review. I know there must have been
some tough moments in watching the film. It's amazing that the two
men who they rescued survived at all.

 

[MelissaAnne]

I don't think I'm ready to watch this yet. I wonder how well it will do at the box office?

 

[Daisy Buchanan]

I don't think I'm ready to watch this yet. I wonder how well it will do at the box office?

I feel the same way.
Just my opinion, but I think it's too soon for a movie like this.

 

[imoldfashioned]

I think it is too early too

I can't even see the Internet commercials without clicking away as quickly as possible and wanting to tear up. Emotionally it doesn't seem like five years ago to me at all.

 

[Feraud]

I was disappointed in the film itself,

How so?

I am willing to see this film but my wife is not interested.

 

[DancingSweetie]

I feel the same way.
Just my opinion, but I think it's too soon for a movie like this.

I'm with you too. I don't even think it's necessary to make a movie like this, or they should wait many more years to do it if they must.

 

[scotrace]

Agreed.

Too soon, too raw.


I don't know if there will ever be a time that isn't "too soon," though.









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[Quigley Brown]

I say it's about time. Five years is more than enough time to make a film dealing with it.

BTW: the collapsed building where the film takes place is not one of the twin towers.

 

[Baggers]

I don't think it's at all too early. In fact, I've always been of the opinion that it was wrong of the major media outlets to institute a ban on airing the footage of the planes flying into the towers, declarng that it was "too intense" for us to see. While I am not advocating a propoganda campaign in order to whip up war sentiment, in my opinion, on the whole, Americans have pathetically short attention spans and I think it would have been an excellent way to remind the general population that there are people out there who hate us, want to kill as many of us as they can, and were very sucessful in killing approximately 3,000 of us on that day. And in light of the plot that has been exposed today in the UK, it's obvious that they haven't changed their minds.

As Andykev pointed out, in the amount of time that it took this movie to make it to the screen, the U.S. basically fought WWII from our entry after Pearl Harbor to the finish. Except for "United 93" (which also only just came out this year) Hollywood has been almost silent on this subject.

I'd go and see this film in a heartbeat if it weren't for the fact that Oliver Stone directed it. I've heard that it has nothing in the way of conspiracy theories ike his earlier "JFK," but still he carries too much baggage for my taste.

Cheers!

 

[Andykev]

Disappoinged..how?

Well, I was disappointed in the content of the film. It was narrowly focused on just the two trapped below, and their families. I would have preferred that the "World Trade Center" could have had some shots or scenes of some of the civillians, ie. those trapped above, and those who made it out. This would have given a wider scope to the totality of Sept. 11. Plus, the film ends "two years later" scene where the resuced officers are limping at a family picnic, and shown with their kids.

That said, the "feel" you get, in the movie, where you are with the cops and firemen who rush to rescue after the plane hits....the whole thing literally comes down on you. Chilling image.

I would have preferred including a short segment to show what our Nation is doing now to protect ourselves. To round out the larger picture of the chain of events.

 

[scotrace]

Great point Baggers. People have forgotten and don't seem to want to be reminded.

 

[Marc Chevalier]

I don't think it's at all too early. In fact, I've always been of the opinion that it was wrong of the major media outlets to institute a ban on airing the footage of the planes flying into the towers, declarng that it was "too intense" for us to see.

In 2001, I was living in Chile. The media there showed everything. No bans at all. Chilean television showed people jumping out of the buildings, a severed finger, etc.

With all the days and weeks of media coverage, I felt as if I were there. This isn't Pearl Harbor, which occurred long before most of us were born. I have no desire to see World Trade Center. I've had enough exposure to the event to last a lifetime of nightmares.

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[Marc Chevalier]

I'd just like everyone here to know ...


One week after September 11, 2001, I attended a concert in Buenos Aires's gargantuan, 100 year-old "Teatro Colon" (whose accoustics, by the way, are better than those of any other opera house, including La Scala's in Milan). It was the first concert held there since the Twin Towers fell.

Argentina's great opera house was full. Suddenly, the conductor strode onto the stage and asked the entire audience -- 2,978 people -- to stand for a full minute of silence, in deference to the 3,050 victims of 9/11.

For one minute, the nearly perfect accoustics of the Teatro Colon were neglected. The sound of silence filled the theater, my wife, and me: a mourning American far from his grieving country.

Gold bless that Argentine conductor and that South American audience.


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[Baggers]

In 2001, I was living in Chile. The media there showed everything. No bans at all. Chilean television showed people jumping out of the buildings, a severed finger, etc.

Well, I was enjoying some time off here in the U.S. on that day and got to see almost everything as it happened in real time. From approximately 30 minutes before the second plane hit the towers and for the rest of the week I was glued to the tube. Within 24 hours, they stopped replaying the footage of the planes hitting the buildings, which, once all the different angles were pieced together, was very powerful stuff. I haven't seen it since except for quick edited clips on a couple of programs on the History Channel.

Of course it doesn't surprise me that foreign media would play the heck out of it, especially latin countries where the news sometimes gets a bit more of a sensational treatment than it would here in the U.S. Some countries (middle eastern?) probably even played more to the crowd that thinks the U.S. got what it deserved. But here in the U.S., once the dust settled (literally) the major news orgs decided that the country should begin "healing" and banned the airing of all the most disturbing sequences.

With all the days and weeks of media coverage, I felt as if I were there. This isn't Pearl Harbor, which occurred long before most of us were born. I have no desire to see World Trade Center. I've had enough exposure to the event to last a lifetime of nightmares.

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Fine. Nobody is going to put a gun to your head and force you to watch it. It's a free country, spend your entertainment dollars as you wish. But please just don't buy into a process that's meant to make the majority of us forget the severity of what happened on that day.

Cheers!

 

[Quigley Brown]

The film will probably fail at the box office because of this 'too soon' attitude...which is really too bad since:

Donations

•Ten percent of opening weekend box-office receipts from “World Trade Center” will be donated to 9/11-related charities, Paramount Pictures has announced. The film opens Wednesday at more than 2,000 theaters in the U.S.

•Five percent of box-office proceeds from Wednesday through Aug. 13 will be donated to the World Trade Center Memorial Foundation, which is raising money to build a $510 million memorial to the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks at the trade center site.

•An additional 5 percent will be split equally between three charities: Tuesday’s Children, a services organization for children who lost a parent on 9/11; the Tribute WTC Visitor Center, a family-run memorial museum scheduled to open this summer; and the New York Police and Fire Widows’ and Children’s Benefit Fund.

 

[Baggers]

I'd just like everyone here to know ...


One week after September 11, 2001, I attended a concert in Buenos Aires's gargantuan, 100 year-old "Teatro Colon" (whose accoustics, by the way, are better than those of any other opera house, including La Scala's in Milan). It was the first concert held there since the Twin Towers fell.

Argentina's great opera house was full. Suddenly, the conductor strode onto the stage and asked the entire audience -- 2,978 people -- to stand for a full minute of silence, in deference to the 3,050 victims of 9/11.

For one minute, the nearly perfect accoustics of the Teatro Colon were neglected. The sound of silence filled the theater, my wife, and me: a mourning American far from his grieving country.

Gold bless that Argentine conductor and that South American audience.


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Thank you for that, Marc. Seriously. It helps to balance out the images I saw that day of Palestinians dancing in the streets.

Cheers

 

[Hondo]

Re: review

Thanks for the review and I'm with those who can't watch this again, I get enough reminders and when I'm reminded, I want to go after those who did this tragic deed, but at my age there isn't much I do, I saw the images, remember that day and will forever.
The whole Middle East and Muslim countries, world bodies need to start educating their lot, to put a stop to this, and future acts if they intend to live and share this world, America belongs to everyone, goals, teachings.

I don't want to go off topic and drag this subject, I was sent the below subject "OUR COUNTRY--USA" it speaks volumes.


Subject: OUR COUNTRY--USA

Isn't it strange that an Australian would have to write it?
Written by an Australian Dentist....and too good to delete....


To Kill an American
You probably missed it in the rush of news last week, but there was actually a report that someone in Pakistan had published in a newspaper an offer of a reward to anyone who killed an American, any American.


So an Australian dentist wrote an editorial the following day to let every one know what an American is . So they would know when they found one. (Good one, mate!!!!)


"An American is English, or French, or Italian, Irish, German, Spanish, Polish, Russian or Greek. An American may also be Canadian, Mexican, African, Indian, Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Australian, Iranian, Asian, or Arab, or Pakistani or Afghan.


An American may also be a Comanche, Cherokee, Osage, Blackfoot, Navaho, Apache, Seminole or one of the many other tribes known as native Americans.


An American is Christian, or he could be Jewish, or Buddhist, or Muslim.
In fact, there are more Muslims in America than in Afghanistan. The only difference is that in America they are free to worship as each of them chooses.


An American is also free to believe in no religion. For that he will answer only to God, not to the government, or to armed thugs claiming to speak for the government and for God.


An American lives in the most prosperous lan d in the history of the world.
The root of that prosperity can be found in the Declaration of Independence, which recognizes the God given right of each person to the pursuit of happiness.


An American is generous. Americans have helped out just about every other nation in the world in their time of need, never asking a thing in return.


When Afghanistan was over-run by the Soviet army 20 years ago, Americans came with arms and supplies to enable the people to win back their country!


As of the morning of September 11, Americans had given more than any other nation to the poor in Afghanistan. Americ ans welcome the best of everything...the best products, the best books, the best music, the best food, the best services. But they also welcome the least.


The national symbol of America, The Statue of Liberty , welcomes your tired and your poor, the wretched refuse of your teeming shores, the homeless, tempest tossed. These in fact are the people who built America.


Some of them were working in the Twin Towers the morning of September 11, 2001 earning a better life for their families. It's been told that the World Trade Center victims were from at least 30 different countries, cultures, and first languages, including those that aided and abetted the terrorists.

So you can try to kill an American if you must. Hitler did. So did General Tojo, and Stalin, and Mao Tse-Tung, and other blood-thirsty tyrants in the world. But, in doing so you would just be killing yourself. Because Americans are not a particular people from a particular place. They are the embodiment of the human spirit of freedom. Everyone who holds to that spirit, everywhere, is an American.


Please keep this going!
Pass this around the World ?
Then pass it around again.
It says it all, for all of us

 

[Marc Chevalier]

Nobody is going to put a gun to your head and force you to watch it.

You're very right, Baggers. And I'm not going to put a gun to anyone's head and force them not to watch it. Each must make his or her choice.

How I feel about the movie is strictly personal. It doesn't go beyond that.

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[Feraud]

I understand. Thanks Andykev!