Sunday 22 January 2012

World Trade Center

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Year:2006
Country of origin:USA
Director:Oliver Stone
Genre:Real life dramatisation
Starring:Nicolas Cage, Armando Riesco, Maria Bello,
Rating:4/5
IMDB link:http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0469641/
Tagline:The World Saw Evil That Day. Two Men Saw Something Else.
Favourite line:"9/11 showed us what human beings are capable of. The evil, yeah, sure. But it also brought out the goodness we forgot could exist."

A movie made 5 short years after the felling of The World Trade Center buildings on September 11th 2001 was always going to be tinged with controversy.
How could Hollywood justify making a piece of entertainment from such appalling events.
Well, let me tell you, if you find this remotely entertaining, you really do need help.
Normally about here I would discuss the plot, but that is pretty much moot here, save for informing that the focal point is on a small team of Port Authority police officers, led by the stallion himself, Nic Cage, two of whom wind up trapped in the rubble beneath the concourse between the two buildings as the skyscrapers collapsed.
And there is much to be admired.
Stone focuses less on the events themselves, opting to point his camera in the direction of the families who were suffering as their men folk clung on to life, pinned in place, desperately hoping for rescue.
The movie as a whole is understated, a real slow burner, dwelling on the humanity of it all, which is all for the good.
On the negative side, it does occasionally delve into the mawkish; the vision of Jesus (yes, I know the guy said this happened, but on film it comes across as schmaltzy), the son reacting aggressively to the missing father, the pregnant wife lamenting her potential loss.
But heh, I'm nit-picking.
An important movie on an important subject, this may not be Stone's finest hour, but it's far from the mess of a movie many have claimed.

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