An Unfortunate Choice

I took a "summer Friday" last week which is essentially not showing up on Friday during the summer because nobody else is at work anyway. I decided to spend some of the day sleeping which was great and then spent another portion of the day at the movie theater. I'd been planning to see World Trade Center for some time now, mostly because, as a New Yorker, I wanted to see how the "story" would be told. The reality is that Oliver Stone, and anyone else who attempts to recount this day, is screwed from the get-go; there is no way to recreate that day (in my opinion) without doing the victims and their families a great dis-service. (As an aside, I think the only "proper" way to tell this story would be to donate 100% of the proceeds to a 9/11 memorial fund.)

I sat down for the movie about 10 minutes early and was already starting to have second thoughts about this. I showed up alone and was taking in the atmosphere in the theater. One couple was reading the paper, another was quietly talking about something. Needless to say, at 12:15 pm on a Friday, the theater was pretty empty.

The movie began and the entire time, literally from when I walked into the theater until about 2 hours after the movie ended, I felt sick. I guess I came to the conclusion that not enough time had passed, in my opinion, to make a movie about 9/11. Stone managed to include very brief clips of actual footage from the day, which had the effect of scaring the shit out of me and bringing back that sinking feeling. I guess some background is in order: my mother worked 1 block from the WTC. My hardest memories of the day were that I could not get in touch with my mom until about 9 pm that night. I admit, I'm lucky, and so is she, and so is everyone who survived that day, regardless of where you were. But sitting in that theater, watching the footage, "experiencing" that day all over again brought back the same feeling I had that day. I can't help but imagine what folks who lost someone must feel when they see these commercials or maybe see the movie.

Needless to say, I walked away with swollen eyes and a very nauseous feeling. I'm angry that the story focused on two people who survived and barely made mention of all those who did not. What about all the families that were waiting to hear something about a loved-one but never did? How about telling their stories, no matter how heart-breaking. Maybe middle-America needs to hear those stories to get it.

I don't really know if I recommend seeing this movie. It is important to remember that day and the story of survival is always "nice" to hear. But maybe we need 5 more years before we can see something like this. Maybe we need 20 more years.