A Reminder Of Humanity During 9/11/2001

Rating: 9/10 (8 October 2012)

Nicolas Cage stars in the unforgettable true story of the courageous rescue and survival of two Port Authority policemen who were trapped in the rubble on September 11, 2001 after they volunteered to go in and help in this drama,World Trade Center.It also features Maria Bello, Michael Peña, Maggie Gyllenhaal and Michael Shannon.Director Oliver Stone once again is at helm in a film that offers a powerful and provocative story based on the real events that involves John McLoughlin and William J. Jimeno, both of whom cooperated with producers.
Sergeant John McLoughlin and William J. Jimeno were two officers assigned to New York City's Port Authority who were working their beats on a quiet day in early fall when they received an emergency call. The day was September 11, 2001, and they were among the policemen who attempted to evacuate the World Trade Center towers after they were struck by airliners piloted by terrorists. Both were inside the fifth building of the World Trade Center when the towers fell, and were two of the last people found alive amidst the wreckage. As they struggled to hold on to their lives as rescuers sifted through the rubble, their spouses -- Donna McLoughlin and Allison Jimeno clung to the desperate hope that their husbands would survive and be found. As the both their families waited for word on the fate of the two men, they watched as a city and a nation came together with strength and compassion in the face of a tragedy.
As a visually stunning tribute to lives lost in tragedy, World Trade Center succeeds unequivocally, and it is more politically muted than many of Stone's other works as the director concentrated on one of the catastrophe's stories and has fashioned it well with almost palpable physical detail, and with performances that never sink to exploitation. Granted, it's only the film's historical context that distinguishes it from any other dramatic rescue story, but in focusing on the goodness of humanity in response to the evil of terrorists who remain unnamed and off-screen, the film creates an emotional context as powerful as anything Stone has done since Platoon. Even as he resorts to some questionable tactics typically lacking in subtlety, Stone refrains from much of the blunt-force film-making that has made him a critical punching bag, rising to this challenging occasion with a heartfelt and deeply American portrait of unity whether personal, familial, and national. Flaws and all, World Trade Center serves an honorable purpose, reminding us all that for those fleeting days in September 2001, America showed its best face to a sympathetic world.