Profiles in Courage

Rating: 10/10 (11 August 2006)

WORLD TRADE CENTER (2006) **** Nicolas Cage, Michael Pena, Maria Bello, Maggie Gyllenhaal, Michael Shannon, Stephen Dorff, Frank Whaley, Jay Hernandez, Armando Riesco, Danny Nucci, Jon Bernthal, Jude Ciccolella, Ned Eisenberg, Nicholas Turturro, Tom Wright, Patti D'Arbanville, Donna Murphy, Nicky Katt, Kimberly Scott, Dorothy Lyman, Peter McRobbie, William Mapother. Excellent depiction of 9/11 focusing on the two NYPD officers John McLoughlin and Will Jimeno (Cage and Pena, both excellently resonating grace under pressure) who were buried alive under tons of rubble in the horrific aftermath of the World Trade Center's ultimate collapse and their determination to survive, eventually being two of the unbelievable twenty that were pulled alive from the wreckage. Directed with surprising restraint from the usually histrionic Oliver Stone, the filmmaker depicts the chain-of-events thanks to a straight forward screenplay from novice scribe Andrea Bailiff from the cops perspective, flashbacks in memories and in the nightmarish limbo their wives (Bello and Gyllenhaal, respectively, and both terrific) waited with the rest of the world for an uncertain future. Kudos to the ace production design by Jan Rolfs, respectful score by Craig Armstrong and the incredible sound design created by editor Scott Wolf - all Oscar worthy - in recreating the terrible cataclysm of Lower Manhattan. The real-life cops have cameos. One of the year's best films.