Very touching

Rating: 10/10 (12 August 2006)

I realized at the start of this movie that it seems a bit tacky that we are seeing a director attempt to put together a convincing "reality" of something that really happen and that we all collectively lived through (even if it was vicariously by watching CNN.) That feeling quickly went away as I got drawn into what really is a human drama.
This movie really picks up steam as it goes on, but it starts off being very confusing because we keep being introduced to new characters and families and we have no idea whose families they are. As the movie goes on and we figure out who the families are, it becomes easier for the audience to identify with the families and with the main characters (the 2 trapped firemen.) I really liked the fact that the director chose to completely ignore politics and "the greater issues" because in reality, the GREATEST "issue" is the human one. This movie did a great job of boiling life down and showing what is absolutely the most important thing, which is family. Race, religion, political affiliation were all 'checked at the door' when the movie started, and it added greatly to this movie.
The best quality of this movie is that it showed that human beings can be caring and compassionate, and that they can risk their own lives to try and help strangers. And you know, when I think back to that fateful day and the events that happen thereafter, that is the one memory that is most etched in my mind, that people from all over the country and even from Canada did everything they could to help whether it was by coming to NYC or by simply opening up their homes to passengers who were grounded all over North America.
The director of this movie wanted to show that we are humans- humane beings- before we are black, white, Christian, jew or Muslim. In my opinion, he succeeded.