Surprising in many respects *MILD SPOILER*

Rating: 7/10 (23 August 2006)

There seems to be a great deal of confusion in the varied interpretations presented here on IMDb about what this movie attempts to depict. This is not about 9/11, nor is it about heroism, nor is it about terrorism, nor politics. This is, remarkably, a very simple story about survival, the will to live, and the responsibility that goes along with being human. There are a number of nuanced sub-themes (all of those listed above) as well, and the most important of these, from my unique perspective (and I welcome contrary opinions as opposed to labeling them WRONG), is the power of love.
What we are given by a refreshingly invisible Oliver Stone in WTC is a story based on objective facts in the lives of two men who remained trapped in the World Trade Center debris for longer than anybody else. The story remains faithful to most of this story, though the Marine who refused to give up on finding survivors was ethnically miscast. Concerns about poetic license aside, the film takes a subject which could have easily fallen into the abyss of exploitation or the minefield of political commentary Stone sometimes flirts with, but instead, WTC tells the story from an appropriate perspective - that of the men themselves, their families, and those attempting to cope with their apparent loss. This is a film which, if mishandled, could have been boring, offensive and pathetic. It is none of those things, though it is also likely to annoy a lot of people who enter the theater with misbegotten expectations.
I believe Stone accomplished what he set out to do. I believe Michael Pena was wonderful, and Nicholas Cage, Maria Bello and Maggie Gyllenhaal were all very good. And, though his skin color was not historically accurate (and I wonder about the racialism that makes this seem to matter a great deal to some people), I enjoyed Michael Shannon's brief but crucial performance. Moreover, I applaud Stone for doing something many people didn't think he could pull off - making a film without leaving his own ideological signature everywhere in it.
Now - back to love. WTC is not a love story. But love permeates its substratum. The love between the two victims whose predicament becomes ours throughout the course of the film; the love within their families; the love of Americans for each other; and the love of a hero for the deity which inspires him. If there is any particular message I took away from WTC, it is that love is often fleeting, always strong, and always in need of maintenance, but that more than any force in the world - religion, politics, or even war and hate - it can help save us all.
Set against the backdrop of an American cataclysm which has, at least in some people's historical imagination, outweighed the Great Depression, the bombing of Hiroshima and Pearl Harbor, the hope this movie promotes - and the reminder of that feeling of desperate hope so many of us felt after the day this all really happened - is well worth the price of admission. In this way - while the film really does not treat 9/11 as its major subject - it does capture the spirit and feeling of that fateful day quite wonderfully.