Happier times...
World Trade Center
By Eleanor Chew
Director: Oliver Stone
Starring: Nicolas Cage, Michael Pena, Maggie Gyllenhaal, Maria Bello, Stephen Dorff
Official website: http://www.wtcmovie.com
On September 11, 2001, two hijacked passenger planes flew into the North and South Towers of World Trade Centre. The towers collapsed within hours and sent 2,848 civilians and rescue workers, trapped in the buildings and on the planes, to their inevitable end.
The movie, by director Oliver Stone, is neither a political movie nor a documentary on the September 11 attacks. Stone, renowned for his movies with political overtures, made the movie based on two survivors' accounts by Port Authority Police Officers John McLoughlin (Academy Award winner, Nicolas Cage) and William Jimeno (Michael Peņa). The movie also highlighted the emotional turmoil their families went through on that eventful day. Maria Bello and Golden Globe-nominated actress Maggie Gyllenhaal played the officers' wives, Donna and Allison, respectively.
The movie, besides showing the series of events that happened at Manhattan and the plight of the two officers, also gives viewers a peek into the minds of the trapped officers and their wives with several flashback scenes of the couples' tender moments. As this movie is based on the accounts of the survivors and their families, it is a pity that the heroic rescuers of McLoughlin and Jimeno and their efforts to extricate them were not given more screen time. There are also certain controversies over the inaccuracies of the portrayal of certain characters.
It is easy to tap on the overpowering emotions and turn the movie into your typical Hollywood blockbuster vehicle, saved for the fact it is based on a tragic real life event. Personally, I wished the movie was made more from a documentary point of view. The dramatization of the event feels like as if Stone is trying to win over the masses. You will find several scenes of the cameras panning slowly and focusing on the actors' emoting faces, together with the big orchestra music cascading in the background. Nevertheless, let us give kudos to the actors for their good performances, who had spent an extensive amount of time with their real counterparts for their respective roles.
Amidst all the above, World Trade Centre is simply a movie of courage and survival
of those involved, one way or another, on September 11, 2001.
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