World Trade Center

It isn't easy for me to write about this film. And it wasn't easy watching parts of it on the big screen either. World Trade Center (WTC) takes a different approach than United 93. Director Paul Greengrass made a film that felt almost like a documentary and was a well made, tight, lower budget film. Although we know that there was a struggle on the flight we do not know exactly what happened. We can only use our imagination regarding those events. In WTC we know that the events are real because the men who are portrayed in the film lived to talk about them. Director Oliver Stone has made a sweeping film that looks great but is not overblown.

WTC is the story of John McLoughlin (Nicolas Cage) and Will Jimeno (Michael Pena). McLoughlin was a veteran with the New York Port Authority Police and Jimeno was a rookie. When a plane goes into the first tower McLoughlin and some of his men head downtown to lend a helping hand. By the time they arrive another plane has crashed into the second tower. The men want to help evacuate people but the towers come crashing down and they are all buried under the rubble. Most of the men perish. But both McLoughlin and Jimeno are alive as is Officer Dominick Pezzolo (Jay Hernandez). But after more debris falls he is gone.

We also witness the anguish that their families are going through. Donna McLoughlin (Maria Bello) is a mother of four with a certain toughness about her. But she crumbles when she finds out that her husband is missing. Allison Jimeno (Maggie Gyllenhaal) is a mother of one and has another child on the way. She is a woman with an edge and she starts to fall to pieces when she hears the news about Will.

For me the rescue scenes are the best in the film. Scott Strauss (Stephen Dorff) knows that he could die trying to get these men out but he feels that it is his duty to try. Anyone who doesn't have tears in their eyes during these scenes is made of stone.

WTC is above all of film that touches the emotions. The film is a bit too long and I think that it should have been trimmed. There is a sequence in the film that I think should have been eliminated but I don't want to say which one it is. See for yourself. But it is to Cage's and Pena's credit that the long middle section worked. These men kept each other alive and both actors are up to the task of bringing great emotion to their roles. Bello and Gyllenhaal give good performances. But despite these four actors giving solid, performances I don't see anyone getting acting an nomination for this film. Of course, I could be wrong about this. Cinematographer Seamus McGarvey does a marvelous job of recreating that awful day. Andrea Berkoff has written a screenplay that sometimes feels a bit overwrought but is, for the most part, well written (with the exception of above mentioned sequence). And then there is Stone. I cannot say that this is Stone's best film because it is not. I can think of several films of his that I liked better. But it is a good film. Stone is to be commended for making this an apolitical film because the story of these two men have nothing to do with politics. There are many conspiracy theories around and perhaps someone else will want to make a film about that one day (which is fine by me). It is possible that Stone and the film will get nominated for awards but it is way too early to say for sure.

The far right crowd has decided that this film belongs to them. That is nonsense. September 11, 2001 affected everyone. Certainly those of us on the left can embrace the working class heroes in this film. More than anything else this is a story of friendship, heroism and doing the right thing. Now we have the neverending war in Iraq and the Israeli-Hezzbollah war just keeps on escalating. And just today we found out that terrorists were getting ready to explode liquid bombs on planes traveling from the UK to the US. This film reminds us that even though there is a lot of evil in the world there is also still a lot of good. And that is something that gives us hope in these dark days.