Oliver Stone and controversy go hand in hand, so it wasn’t too much of a
surprise with the announcement that he was to helm America’s first feature length film on the 9/11 world trade centre attacks, in fact, it’s hard to imagine any other major director in Hollywood taking on this subject with such urgency and concern for the subject matter.
This is the second film to be released in cinemas this year that focuses on the terrorist attacks of September 11th 2001, but unlike its predecessor (Paul Greengrass’s fantastic United 93), the film focuses primarily on the immediate ground response from the city’s police and firemen. We follow police sergeant John McLaughlin (Cage) and his team of police as they attempt to rescue people from the first tower that was hit. Before they get a chance to enter the higher levels of the building, it collapses on top of them and they are trapped underneath the rubble, some dead, some alive; from here on out we focus on their family’s reaction to the events and how they cope with the emotional trauma and the survival of the those trapped underneath.
The script is based on the real life accounts of two the police officers that survived the some eight hours of entrapment, it is from this realistic script that Oliver Stone has crafted such a real depiction of the horrific events that occurred that day. One of the ways in which the film gives such a sense of realism is the photography of the event, much of the scenes of the entrapment are filmed on a set, with no CG rocks or rubble in sight, it is a extremely well crafted piece of the film and summons a fierce intensity.
In fact the computer effects are kept to a minimum throughout the film, which adds to the emotional weight, and thankfully, the film steers clear of a clichéd Hollywood pastiche, this is, after all, an Oliver Stone film. One of the main things that hits in viewing the film is the emotion of that day and its unbearable sense of desperation. The focus is placed on the emotions evoked in the scenes with the trapped policeman’s families and their desperation and longing to help find their husbands/fathers, but are helpless and unable to do anything, all they can do is sit and wait. This is crafted excellently through the characters of Allison Jimeno (Gyllenhaal) and her determination to get back home to see if there is any news on her trapped husband (Peña). She becomes tired of waiting at a set of traffic lights so gets out the car and attempts to run home.
The film has obvious comparisons with United 93. Both films are very different in their presentation of the events, the documentary style combined with the claustrophobic settings of United 93 make the film much more gritty and realistic, it seems as if someone is right there filming it. Its ending more is bleak and discomforting; in some ways it is a better film. Yet it is Oliver Stone’s representation of hope and courage that makes World Trade Centre a different, more poignant experience; the fact that there are these terrible acts of horror happening throughout the world, yet there is still hope, people can survive, we can make it.