Review World Trade Center

Everytime that I write this review, there seems to be a political rant going on. I hope I've cleaned that part up. While it is a film that focuses on the events that happened on 9/11, it largely focuses on the events that happened to Will Jimeno and John McLaughlin, officers in the Port Authority Police Department. It also focuses on what led Dave Karnes to re-enlist in the Marines.

Oliver Stone did a very good job as the director. There were a few moments of comic relief and given the subject of the movie, that was definitely needed. I'm glad that Stone didn't make it a conspiracy theory movie like JFK was. I'd say it's definitely worthy of an Oscar nomination.

Seeing this movie made be realize that it's hard to believe that we're coming up on the five year anniversary of one of the worst attacks on American soil ever. I still remember where I was when I heard that there was an attack. I was sitting in my second period class, which was keyboarding. When I heard the announcement over Ballard's PA system, I immediately thought something happened in Israel since these things are unheard of in America. Oy, was I wrong! It was the World Trade Center, and then later, a plane crashed into the Pentagon. The rest is self-explanatory. Two hours later, the twin towers collapsed to the ground.

I won't lie. The worst thing that happened at the time was that the media kept saying where the president was. Even though I'm a Democrat, it's times like those that you don't give away the locations of the leadership although I'll never forget the quote that Bush made that evening:

Terrorist attacks can shake the foundations of our biggest buildings, but they cannot touch the foundation of America. These acts shatter steel, but they cannot dent the steel of American resolve.

With seeing the movie, I'm reminded that our country is very much still at war with radical Islamic militants. I'm not saying all people of Islam are bad, just the radical ones. We have troops in Afghanistan and Iraq, though going into Iraq was not justified and made things worse. Afghanistan was justified and the Taliban had to be taken out--not just that but why hasn't OBL been found yet? How hard is it to find a six foot Saudi terrorist?!?

Internationally, the reaction from several people that day was "We are all Americans!" Of course, that day, many of us felt we were New Yorkers whether we lived there or not. Seeing the movie made me feel like I was reliving that dreadful day. It took me a while to write this review as I had to gather my thoughts since it just made me as depressed as I was then (I've been repeatedly listing to Coldplay's "Fix You" and Green Day's "Wake Me Up When September Ends" as that was how depressed I got by seeing the movie.)

The question is: is it too soon for a movie about 9/11? I don't think any time is ever too soon but it had to be made eventually. That being said, in light of the events this week, the war on terrorism is not ending any time soon. Yes, we should get out of Iraq before it becomes less stable than it already is (Hussein had to go, no questions there, but there had to have been a diplomatic way). Iran is a threat. Syria is potential threat.

I do urge caution if and when you do see this movie. You will likely be depressed afterwards. I was hesitant at first because of the fact that less than five years may be too soon. It will likely gather a several Oscar and Golden Globe nominations. It's my pick, at this moment, for Best Picture at the Oscars.

I'm stopping now before I have to listen to those songs again.