It seems a bit disrepectful to say I was disappointed by "World Trade Center." Oliver Stone is one of America's most talented living directors, and I expected him to have something to say about one of our country's worst days. But he plays it straightforward -- a story about survival, albeit a most miraculous one of two Port Authority police officers buried under 20 feet of rubble as the towers collapsed.
Stone's most emotional and most poignant moments come near the end of the two-hour film. The family of one of the surviving officers is moving from one part of Bellevue Hospital to another. They pass through a hallway and stop. The camera stays on their disbelieving faces, then moves to the wall -- filled with homemade fliers seeking missing loved ones. The enormity of their loved one surviving, while hundreds and thousands haven't, is like a punch to their stomachs.
The other comes in a hospital waiting room. A surviving officer's wife (the underrated and underappreciated Maria Bello) tries to buy a cup of coffee, but the vending machine isn't working. She tells another woman not to bother. They make small talk about who they're waiting for. The wife says her husband has been pulled from the rubble; the other woman says her son is an elevator operator at one of the towers. The mother recounts their last conversation. Her son was late for dinner because of work, and they argued. She regrets her last words with him being so angry. Maria Bello's character pats the woman's back, and the mother dissolves into tears, her body convulsing. One woman hugs the other and holds her up at the same time. The mother's grief is a nation's grief.
"World Trade Center" is a tribute to those who died Sept. 11, 2001, and to those who died and, especially to two men who survived, trying to help others. It is a good cry.
Maybe filmmakers won't be able to find anything new to reveal as the years continue to go by, because Americans watched all of those terrible hours unfold live on TV. We know the story. Stone's movie is well-meaning and respectful, but it is not powerful. It is good, just not great.
2 comments:
It's got to be difficult to watch. I did see that the movie made a surprising amount at the box office this weekend. I think people are attracted and repelled at the same time.
I agree with your attraction/repulsion theory, Anon. Maybe the attraction part of them won out during opening weekend. "World Trade Center" made $18.7 million, placing a surprising third behind No. 1 "Talladega Nights" and No. 2 "Step Up." Maybe people do want to see the human drama -- and the story behind it -- acted out on a big screen.
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