WORLD TRADE CENTER is a deeply moving example of people who wanted only one thing: to get home from work that day.

Rating: 10/10 (14 August 2006)

There is a key scene missing from Oliver Stone's WORLD TRADE CENTER. It's the scene that is forever burned in my brain. We saw it hundreds of times, over and over, the local news couldn't help but show us it with a frequency that could only be called sadistic. Since the scene is not present here the film works. Because it's not there the film has a resonance much higher and more powerful. WORLD TRADE CENTER is a film that has all the cards stacked against it and succeed because it remembers that 9/11 was not a day about politics, it was not a day about heroes or villains. No, 9/11 was a day about people doing their jobs and stepping up in the face of tragedy.
When John McLoughin (Nicholas Cage)and Will Jimeno (Michael Pena) showed up for work on this morning they never expected to find themselves buried under the rubble of the Twin Towers. They assumed the day would be pretty uneventful. They kissed their wives, hugged their kids and went to work. But, when duty called these men answered it, and found themselves trapped. Leaving their families wondering, their friends comforting, and a country mourning. In a matter of hours these two Port Authority Police Officers fought for survival, and made themselves and many other men heroes. A lot can happen in the midst of evil, and sometimes it can inspire the greatest good.
What WORLD TRADE CENTER does best is transport us back to that day. When we woke up that morning all was well, by the time we went to bed the whole world felt the repercussions. On September 11th politics was put on the back burner, our petty differences fell away, and we became united. Some gave blood, others cleaned up, for one grand moment America seemed like one. American flags flew, police and rescue workers streamed into the city to help, the once loathed Mayor became a hero, and the President's rally cries were heard and accepted. Oliver Stone's film captures those moments with such reckless ease, its amazing he got away with it.
The film is the embodiment of people who are holding onto the mundane problems in the world. Holding onto the mundane because the gravity of the world around them is too much to bare. My favorite moment involves Jimeno talking about the theme song to Starsky and Hutch. On the surface it's a man trying to use comedy to quell his fear, but the scene goes deeper, this man is holding onto a stupid television show because it proves he's still alive. Hollywood has given us hero's whose lives are so exciting and are always exciting. But real people have down time, they laugh, they go see stupid movies, and watch stupid television shows. The only way to hold on is to revert to the mundane, it's the only cure for a world gone insane.
Nicholas Cage and Michael Pena embody McLoughlin and Jimeno with real humanity. The film traps them under rubble for most of the films running time, so all they have is their voices, their emotions, and their humanity to get them through.
On the surface, Maria Bello and Maggie Gyllenhaal play these men's wives with a vulnerability and fierceness. We see their pain, none so clear, as when Gyllenhaal as Jimeno's wife wanders aimlessly around a pharmacy trying to clear her head, or getting out of the car because the red light is too long. That light never seems so long as when you need to get somewhere fast.
I've heard many say "how dare they make this movie?" "How dare Hollywood profit from this tragedy?" I say "how dare we leave our history to be written by people with an agenda., by people who didn't live through it?" Ten years from now I would be proud to show this film to the next generation, to show them that amidst all the upheaval, amidst all the tragedy, America was united for one brief moment. WORLD TRADE CENTER has no agenda except to harken back to a time we've since lost.
WORLD TRADE CENTER is missing one key scene. It's missing the planes flying into the building. This is not a film about terrorists, or evil. This isn't even a film about the Twin Towers. This is not a film about planes, presidents, or what has happened since. WORLD TRADE CENTER is a deeply moving example of people who wanted only one thing: to get home from work that day.