I thought it odd that we could hear the word "fuck" and "fucking" broadcast on network television last night, but we couldn't even see a single victim during the entire film.
Hearing the jumpers land and watching the firemen jump everytime a jumper landed was more powerful than actually seeing the corpses.
This was wonderful. You can see it all in the eyes of the firemen. I was worried about the "Probie".
The most stunning moment was the elderly office worker just standing there in shock. His expression said it all... "it's the end of the world."
I am changed. I want to do more than just watch and send money. If I was young enough, I would enlist. I may check out the Americorps.
Overall 5 stars.
Sicko
Off the subject but just as outrageous, our local paper The News Herald (Willoughby,Ohio) has ENOUGH IS ENOUGH above the story of the six month anniversary of 9/11.
The paper has decided on it's own not to include any pictures of that day because in their opinion, we've had enough.'
Sorry your vision of a blood and guts propaganda piece was dampened. The filmmaker didn't film burning or pulverized bodies out of respect for the dead and dying. He was there, recording events, period. I wasn't there, you weren't there... he was. And from the looks of the video, he was filming with the awe and compassion and bravery of the firefighters whom he accompanied. I wouldn't be so arrogant to judge him as a media shill or propagandist.
Perhaps in your haste to condemn the film because of your need to see mangled bodies, you forgot that they showed Father Mychal Judge. While he was in the lobby and still alive, they showed a shot of him praying. After the 1st tower collapsed, they showed a filmed shot of the firefighters carrying him, but it showed only his boot. Cut into that sequence was the still picture of firefighters carrying his dead body to a nearby church. I'm sure you've seen it.
The symbolism of hearing the bodies crash to the ground and seeing the firefighters cringe was more than effective. Perhaps you need to see body parts and crushed skulls, but the families of the victims don't. Perhaps the film crew will recut the film for other audiences--particularly the Palestinians--who can dance and cheer when they see heads, arms, legs, lungs and spleen splattered all over the streets outsie of the WTC.
I think you need to relax... while I agree the true horror of that day needs to be seen, not just heard and described, I don't feel for one moment the reality of what happened on 9/11 was lost by the film maker conciously not turning his camera right to show 2 people on fire, or to focus on the body parts.
This documentary at its heart was about the firefighters of that particular fire house... it was a story of humanity in the face of unbelievable evil. It was told by and shot from the perspective of the firefighters. I think it was done very well. I was not crazy about the occassional and pointless narration, the work stood for itself, you didn't need Deniro voicing over every 15 or 20 minutes for 1 or 2 sentences.. it was out of place and added nothing. The cameraman and the firefighters told the story.. I don't know why they had him narrating most of the time.
I don't think we need to see the body in the street to know what happened, the sickening thud and the words of the firefighters themselves at the recognition of what it was made the point plainly. You didn't need to see the macabre of body parts, the words of 1 firefighter, ("this was 2 110 story office buildings, and in the rubble there isn't a desk, there isn't a chair, there isn't a phone.. the biggest piece of a phone I found was a part of a keypad about this big" (paraphrased) left little to the imagination, as did anothers "it was raining body parts"...
I do agree the photo evidence of this even needs to get out, as macabe and sickening as it is, but this documentary was not the place for it. It would not have added one iota to the impact of what was going on.