World Trade Center
PG-13, 125 minutes
Opens Wednesday, August 9,
at Seminole Square Cinema 4
When Paul Greengrass’ 9/11-inspired film United 93 hit theaters earlier this year, many moviegoers asked the question, “Are we ready for this?” People wondered if, as a nation, we were ready to confront that tragic day head-on. Given the relatively positive response the film received, the answer seems to be, “Maybe.” But now comes Oliver Stone’s high-profile tackling of that delicate day, World Trade Center. And, again, the question is being raised: “Are we ready for this?” Having seen and digested the film, I can say, beyond a shadow of a doubt, that’s the wrong question to be asking.
With our government having declared war on seemingly half the world as a result of that day, I think we can handle a little movie. What people should, instead, be concerned about is this: “Why tell this story?” We all know what happened that day. We saw it repeated endlessly (and numbingly) on the evening news for days, months, years. What can a movie impart that reality did not? It’s a sharp and valid question, and one for which Mr. Stone has provided an elegantly disarming answer.
When Oliver “King of Conspiracy Theories” Stone (JKF, Nixon, The Doors) announced plans to shoot a movie about 9/11, detractors assumed that he would dig into the radical tales of government corruption and cover-up that continue to shadow that day. Bill O’Reilly and his ilk were undoubtedly sharpening their knives for a vitriolic attack on the obviously anti-American filmmaker. I dare say, however, that Mr. Stone will surprise a lot of people with his even-handed, polemic-free, mom-and-apple-pie-approved final product.
Developed in close conjunction with the very people who were there that day, the film concentrates on two New York City Port Authority police officers—Sgt. John McLoughlin (Nicolas Cage) and Will Jimeno (Michael Pena from Crash). As word comes out that a fire of some sort is raging at the World Trade Center, McLoughlin, Jimeno and their fellow officers rush to the scene. It is chaos. Rumors swirl. Did a plane really crash into the tower? Has Israel been nuked? Ignoring the whys and wherefores, these first-responders rush into the concourse of the twin towers, looking to affect a rescue of those trapped in the upper stories. Almost immediately the building collapses, trapping McLoughlin and Jimeno under several hundred tons of rubble.
The rest of this grim, tension-filled flick spends most of its time stuck in the claustrophobic, terrifyingly realistic confines of Ground Zero. McLoughlin and Jimeno have no idea what has happened. They know nothing about terrorists or news reports, and have no idea that one of the world’s landmark buildings has just collapsed on top of them. All they know is that they’re trapped and wounded. Outside of this dusty hellscape, we see not the swarming reporters, not the shocked masses of Americans, not the slow-but-resolute response of our president. We see, instead, the faces of the wives whose husbands have failed to emerge from the World Trade Center. Donna McLoughlin (Mario Bello) and Allison Jimeno (Maggie Gyllenhaal) must endure a physical and emotional trial at times greater that the one their husbands are struggling to survive.
What becomes apparent in this immediately riveting narrative is that Oliver Stone has stripped away even the slightest hint of politics. Republican, Democrat, Liberal, Conservative: None of those terms meant anything on that day. Stone has, somewhat surprisingly, chosen to tell this tale not because it denigrates the war, or because it supports the president, or for any other selfish, dogmatic reason. This moving and deeply personal tale takes us back to 9/11 not only to recall the trauma of that day, but to remind us that it was originally a human story, not a tale of governments, occupying forces and insurgents. Stone has found the metaphor in this mass of absolute truth. World Trade Center could have been about any disaster, and it would still have been a damnably effective drama. But, once this nail-biting film has come to its heart-swelling conclusion, we are left with the knowledge that it was not just any disaster: It was our disaster.
What was so hard to grasp on that September day five years ago was the scale of it all. It was enormous. It was, in fact, the defining moment in many Americans’ lives. With the number of deaths, the amount of destruction, and the still-snowballing violence and political division that day has caused, it’s always been hard to put a face on 9/11. World Trade Center gives us several.
It would be easy (and probably accurate) to say that World Trade Center will win a ton of Academy Awards. The acting, the directing and the storytelling are all impeccable. But such accolades seem almost almost crass in light of the film’s true mission. I suspect it’s the inspirational humanity of this simple tale about monumental destruction, incalculable death and unstoppable hope that will linger most in the memory of its viewers.
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