World Trade Center

World Trade Center is an excellent film, a taut thriller that examines a small group of Port Authority police officers reacting to the plane attack on the twin towers on September 11th, 2001. When the buildings collapse two officers are trapped in the rubble, and we cut back and forth between their plight and the situation their loved ones go through as they wait to discover their fate.

But what is most interesting about this film is what it isn't about. Oliver Stone, the director, is one of the most vocally political filmmakers of the day. His last handful of films, most notably JFK, Nixon, and Natural Born Killers, were stuffed full of all sorts of conceits, including multiple film stock and tangled plot lines. Watching them was almost like having a fever dream. He is also, as a private citizen, outspoken in his beliefs, which usually skew to the left.

World Trade Center, however, is not a political film, and it has a very lean structure. There is no talk of geopolitics. Aside from a scene in which people all over the world learn of the news of the attacks, there is no outside influences. It's all about these two men and their families and those who try to rescue them. It could have been about any rescue situation, but Stone chose to tell of a rescue that happened on a day that fundamentally changed world history.

The flag-waving right has embraced this film, even though they were wary of Stone telling a 9/11 story. I'm sure that makes Stone giggle inside. It just goes to show that vocal dissenters from the Bush-Cheney line are every bit the patriot that those on the right are. I congratulate Stone for his end-around, as well as for making a fine film.