Like many life-changing events -- the assassination of JFK, the moon landing, Oklahoma City bombing, the explosion of the Challenger -- those affected will always remember where they were when they first heard the news. For those in New York, the hours surrounding the destruction of the Trade Center held a nightmarish quality that is difficult to describe to those who live outside the area, who watched the events unfold on television rather than down the street or up in the sky.
I will say at the outset that this is a particularly difficult disc for me to review in any nonbiased way. I was there that day, firsthand witness to the dust and sounds and pervasive fear that swept the financial center, from Liberty Square (neé Bankers Trust Plaza) and on across Broadway, Broad, and through the cobblestoned sidestreets that mark the business district as it was in the 1600s. I knew some of the lost, and I know that many of the people I have worked with (and for) -- precisely who, I may never know -- died that day. In the New York/New Jersey/Long Island are, everybody knows someone, or knows somebody related to someone. For those of us who worked in the shadow of the Trade Center, the numbers become exponentially higher.
On the first anniversary of the terrorist attacks in New York and Washington, D.C., and the crash in Somerset County, Pennsylvania, I've seen a pattern to the ways in which people deal with the events. On the day of the attacks, there was a need to see the collapse of the towers over and over -- like the Zapruder film in Oliver Stone's JFK; perhaps this was necessary in order to prove to ourselves that something this unimaginable was actually happening. Then, after some time -- days, weeks, depending on the individual -- we no longer wanted to see the images. Maybe it made us too sad, or brought up memories we didn't want to deal with; I don't know. But for whatever reason, we no longer wanted to see the photos. and would quickly turn the page.
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| What's left of 130 Liberty -- the old 1 BT Plaza -- where I had worked |
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But now, months have passed. The "War On Terrorism," having failed to bring in either of its two main targets, has dissolved into an unfocused aggressive national posture looking for a war with a clearer definition. Our greatest fears -- a nuclear attack, rampant bioterrorism, a Sarin nerve gas attack on the subways -- did not come to fruition. Our lives have gone on. And we find ourselves drawn to the images of the day, in coffee-table books, in TV specials, in What We Saw (with a DVD of CBS' television coverage, for those who didn't or couldn't record it on a VCR tape last September).
It's the "rollercoaster effect." We want to relive the experience of being terrified, then surviving through it.
With none of that in mind, Paramount is releasing 9/11, the "filmmakers' commemorative DVD edition" of Jules and Gedeon Naudet's documentary on Tony Benetatos, a 21-year-old "probie" (probationary firefighter) based at the 100 Duane Street firehouse of Manhattan's Engine 7, Ladder 1. The Naudet brothers had spent the summer filming their documentary, but their project took an historical turn at 8:30 a.m. on September 11th, when Jules took part in answering a routine call to investigate a suspected gas leak about a mile north of the World Trade Center. He was in the street when the first plane hit, had the presence of mind to get it on tape -- and their documentary on firefighters became instead a first-person historical record of the events at the Trade Center that day.
CBS telecast the original cut of this film on March 10th (for the six-month anniversary), in a two-hour time slot; although presented with no national or local commercials or promotional announcements, there were public-service messages from Nextel, as well as hosting wraparounds by Robert De Niro. This DVD omits the messages and hosting segments, and contains enough additional footage to bring the running time to 129 minutes.
Does this film recreate the feeling of being there? For me, no; 9/11 takes place to the north
of, and inside, the towers; I was to the east. The experience within the
firehouse and in the lobby of the towers was very different than the experience
of being on the street, surrounded by a mass of people, some running towards the
scene, some running away, and others standing still and unsure of what to do
next. Watching this film with the benefit of hindsight, we know that it was an act of terrorism, but at the time it was simply confusion on the streets, as facts mingled with guesses and nobody knew what would happen next. If you had witnessed the roiling black cloud pouring into the sidestreets, or the exodus across the Brooklyn Bridge, you will have to look elsewhere to relive that. But the sounds of that morning are here; the strange high-frequency sound as the first tower fell (high-frequency, but still causing a subsonic vibration through your body), and the subsequent utter silence except for the shriek of the car alarms, for those seconds until people were able to scream.
I should also mention, for the record, I don't enjoy rollercoasters anymore.
Like the original CBS telecast, a portion of the proceeds of the sales of the DVD will go to the Uniformed Firefighters Association Scholarship Fund.
Film Synopsis:
On the morning of September
11, 2001, brothers Jules and Gedeon Naudet were working on a documentary
about a rookie New York City Firefighter. Hearing a roar in the sky, Jules
turned his camera upward - just in time to film the only existing image of
the first plane crashing into the World Trade Center. In a fateful instant,
Jules and Gedeon became eyewitnesses to the most shocking and defining moment
of our time.
With cameras rolling, the Naudets followed NYC firefighters into the heart
of what would be known as Ground Zero. What emerged is an unforgettably
powerful vision document and a stirring tribute to real life heroes who,
in their city's darkest hour, rose to extraordinary acts of courage and compassion.
Technical
| Video: |
Widescreen 1.85:1 |
| Audio: |
ENGLISH: Dolby Digital Stereo |
| Subtitles: |
English, Closed Captions |
| Chapters: |
17 |
The film is presented in a 1.85:1
widescreen, although surprisingly without anamorphic enhancement for 16:9 TVs.
Both the video and audio are unexpectedly good, and the video could have
easily supported an anamorphic presentation; perhaps the lack of enhancement is
due to the original source delivered to CBS News. On occasion during the more
frantic moments in the middle of the documentary, video and audio are less than
optimal; to expect more is unreasonable, and we have absolutely no
complaints.
Supplements
Interviews:
- "It Was 8:46 In The Morning..." (12:31)
- "The Building Started To Shake..." (14:10)
- "It's Not Easy Being a Survivor." (16:19)
- "I'll Never Forget." (9:46)
Included on the disc is a 53-minute set of interviews with many of the
firefighters, broken out into four segments; each segment must be selected and
played separately. Unlike the now-common Ken Burns style in which the speakers
are identified each time they speak, each interviewee here is identified in
subtitles only at their first appearance, even spanning segments. It is helpful,
then, to play the first segment -- "It Was 8:46 In The Morning..." -- before any
of the others, so that the viewer knows the speaker and his position within both
the firehouse and the events. For the record, the firefighters interviewed
are:
- Lieutenant Bill Walsh, Ladder 1
- Captain Dennis Tardio, Engine 7
- Ed Fahey, Battalion 1
- Damian Van Cleaf, Engine 7
- John O'Neill, Ladder 1
- Tom Spinard, Engine 7
- Jamal Braithwaite, Ladder 1
- Cheif Joseph Pfeifer, Battalion 1
- Joe Casaligga, Engine 7
- Nick Borrillo, Ladder 1
These interviews are as riveting as the film itself. As in the tale of the
blind men and the elephant, every person's experience in downtown Manhattan that
day was different, and these men -- uncomfortable before the cameras as they are
-- describe their own experiences with cinematic clarity. It is an important
record, and a welcome addition to the disc.
