A tale of good, and not about evil

Rating: 10/10 (10 October 2006)

World Trade Center-**** out of ****
Some believe it is too early for a film about the events that occurred on September 11, 2001, saying that Hollywood is trying to profit from the tragedy of that day. I heard it before when United 93 appeared in theatres back in early spring. United 93 was released, and was a mild success, the latest talk was about World Trade Center, a film directed by Oliver Stone, a director who is known for his interest in political history. Many feared that Stone may try to use this story as a way to show people what he saw on the day of September 11, 2001. Instead, Stone shows us the good in humanity through the eyes of two new York Port Authority Policeman who became trapped in the rubble and pulled out to safety.It is an emotional story, but a story that should be told, because we always hear about the evil that happened on that day, but so few times do we hear all the good that happened, and this is one of those stories.
Nicholas Cage plays John McLoughlin, who like many people who work in New York City, wake up at 3 in the morning for a long commute, either from Long Island, New Jersey, or upstate New York. Slowly, we meet his family though they are all asleep, we can see that he has a wife and 4 children. Next, we meet Will Jimeno, played by Michael Pena (Crash.) Jimeno is a rookie for the Port Authority. As the two begin their day, so do the events of 9/11. Soon, they and many other go off to the World Trade Center to help with the evacuations, and as they and a few others are inside, the towers come down.
The rest of the film we see these two struggle to stay alive as their families struggle to keep hope that they are alive. Maggie Gyllenhaal gives an extraordinary performance as Allison jimeno, Williams wife.
We are introduced to people who will play a key role in their rescue. Michael Shannon plays David Karnes (Staff Sgt. Karnes of the U.S. Marines) a man who after the news, leaves his job, suits up in his uniform and makes his way down to Ground Zero.
This film works for the opposite reasons why United 93 worked. With United 93, there were a lot of unknown actors who looked more like regular people. It helped the audience to relate to the victims on that flight a bit easier because we were able to see these people as anyone or better yet, someone like us. A grandma, a businessman, a wife, a child, a husband, a cousin, a teacher, etc-these descriptions are everyone one of us. In World Trade Center, the better actors were better trained not to overact and over dramatize the events. Instead, they are natural with their delivery and with that, put on a better performance.
As mentioned earlier, this is not a film about politics. In fact, there is no real mention of terrorism except for the news on the television sets. In fact, we never even actually see the planes crash into the World Trade Center. I like this aspect because many of us did not even see these planes crash until after they hit when the media got a hold of personal camcorders. Also, many of the rescuers who risked their lives did not even see the planes hit.
This film is about the good in humanity. For all the evil that occurred, there was a lot more good that went on. And what makes it better is that everything that happens in the film is all based on the accounts of the McLoughlin family and the Jimeno family and the others who participated in the rescue of the two gentleman. There were 20 people who were rescued from the rubble of the Trade Center, Jimeno was 18, and McLoughlin was 19. It makes it a much better watch to know that this story is not made up like the story in Pearl Harbor or the love story of Titanic. These are real people and they were rescued, and many helped in their rescue. And how do we know? Because many of us watched on one of the various news channels that brought us these rescues. Some may say that I am biased towards this film because I lived in New York at the time so I have to like it, but I lived on Long Island, miles away from Ground Zero. I watched as most Americans did, through the eyes of the men holding the news cameras.
This is a film that all should watch at least once. Not because you should feel like you have to because it is your patriotic duty, but because it is a real true feel good story with a happy ending that isn't made up. It does well in showing that no matter how evil some can be, there are a lot more good people out there, and most of them are just like you and me.