by John M. Curtis
(310) 204-8700

Copyright August 13, 2006
All Rights Reserved.

liver Stone's “World Trade Center” propitious release, only two days before the most recent Al Qaeda terror plot, serves a rude wakeup call to a soft society prone toward amnesia. Stone reopens old wounds of Sept. 11 in his riveting survival tale of two New York City Port Authority policemen trapped in the rubble of the World Trade Center's north tower, while heroic rescue worker race against the clock. Only 20 people were pulled from the wreckage alive after Sept. 11. Stone gives the best pre-9/11 travelogue of the Big Apple, showing priceless views of the Twin Towers from virtually every angle. His camera peers everywhere, depicting crowded street scenes, busy subways, aerial shots looking down through NYC's towering skyscrapers, harbor shots from Ellis Island, and, of course, the breathtaking views from the Brooklyn Heights Promenade across the picturesque East River.

      Creating these images before the unthinkable horror of Sept. 11, when Bin Laden's programmed assassins flew jetliners into the Twin Towers, Pentagon and downed United Flight 93 into the field outside Shanksville, Penn. Like the companion film Paul Greengrass' “United Flight 93,” there's public resistance to reliving the horrific events of America's worst day. Stone's “World Trade Center” allows the camera to convey the enormity and magnitude of the nightmare that forever changed the American psyche and way of life. Stone carefully avoids political commentary, recreating the human tragedy and triumph, epitomized by the heroic efforts of first responders and rescue workers, suppressing their own fears to save the film's stars Nicolas Cage and Michael Pena, the only surviving Port Authority Police trapped in the avalanche of rubble, clinging to life.

      Stone's work conveys both the unimaginable horror and exhilarating triumph of rescue workers and survivors, victims of country's battle with Islamic terrorists. Brief snippets of President George W. Bush rallying a stunned nation conveys accurately the country's mood as it looked to the chief executive for leadership, an event that vaulted Bush's approval ratings to 90%. When press reports surfaced Aug. 10 about a new Al Qaeda plot designed to eclipse Sept. 11 by detonating liquid explosives on 10 jetliners, the real message of Stone's film surfaced: The U.S. is at war with Islamic extremists hell-bent on wreaking havoc on the civilized world. “World Trade Center” is the best wake-up call for complacent citizens too benighted and consumed by the everyday routine to realize the nation remains at war. Stone's film jolts the audience and disbelievers out of a semi-torpid state.

      Stone's attempt to remain politically neutral and tell the gut-wrenching story of first responders, rescue workers and the painful plight of family members awaiting the good or bad news, twists the reality of Sept. 11. Stone selected press footage conveying world reactions to the horror of 9/11. He deliberately avoided euphoric celebrations across the Islamic world, especially in the Palestinian territories and Baghdad. Stone avoids placing Sept. 11 into a broader context of the U.S. war against Islamic terror. There's less of patriotism hinted in “United Flight 93.” Screenwriter Andrea Berloff inserted Marine David Karnes, played by Michael Shannon, to symbolize the best of the American character: tough, compassionate and self-sacrificing. Karnes doggedly accepts his new mission of rescuing the trapped policemen, symbolizing the Marine slogan of “no soldier left behind.”

      Cinematographer Seamus McGarvery's ubiquitous camera, roving above the horrific ruins, inside the snarled rubble and up-close into the faces of agony and self-doubt conveyed brilliantly by Cage and Pena, re-creates the internal world of Sept. 11. “World Trade Center” goes beyond a tale of heroism and survival into the real experience of exhausted rescuers and tortured family members, tormented by the prospects of never reuniting with loved ones. Moviegoers walk through the same agony making “World Trade Center” excruciating, sometimes unbearable. It's the up-close, in-your-face agony that will keep cosmetic entertainment-seekers avoiding Stone's redemption as one of Hollywood's best directors from his 2004 disappointment, “Alexander.” “World Trade Center” breaks new ground, creating a new genre of politically neutral, psychologically real docudrama.

      “World Trade Center” gives the best mass-argument for “why we fight.” While the country debates the best place to fight the war on terror, Stone's film leaves no doubt that fight must go on. Watching New York City laid to waste re-creates the same outrage that summoned a sleeping nation Sept. 11. “We will not tire, we will not falter and we will not fail,” Bush told a joint session of Congress Sept. 20, 2001, expressing the essence of Stone's film, that America picked itself off the mat and kept fighting. While characters in “World Trade Center” fought for their own survival, the nation fights to defend itself against a new global plague. Like “World Trade Center,” last Friday's most recent terror scare should remind all citizens that more sacrifices lie ahead. “World Trade Center” awakens a bitterly divided country to the reality that toughness, patience and patriotism are not partisan.

About the Author

John M. Curtis writes politically neutral commentary analyzing spin in national and global news. He's the editor of OnlineColumnist.com and author of Dodging The Bullet and Operation Charisma.

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