World Trade Center Movie

[FloridaNative]

I am wondering if anybody has seen or is planning to go see the new movie about the bombing of the World Trade center towers starring Nicolas Cage. I keep going over it in my mind and on the one hand I don't want to go see it because I know how horrible it will be to relieve that day on the big screen with THX sound. But on the other hand as an American I feel like it is my duty to go see it to honor the people who died that day. And to not let them pass away into memory. I decided to start a thread about it to see firstly if anyone's gone to see it and also to see what your own feelings are about it. Thanks to all who reply and share their thoughts/feelings.

[Meghan]

I am with you.... I am also sitting on the fence about going. Was going to go the night it opened and I didn't might try again this weekend.

[Kelso]

meh.... dont take it the wrong way but i dont see why people create such a big hype over movies about these sort of things, its not a truly big deal. i honestly think the movie will not be very good, i just have a feeling about it. i also hate that the writers and producers hav created this movie with the sole intention of making money for themselves off of those who fell. does anybody else feel like its wrong for them to have made something like this?cause even though it was years ago, it takes years to make a movie like this, so they have been working on this since september 12th and you know it....

[FloridaNative]

I think that is what is making me sit on the fence about seeing it. Exactly what you said Kelso. I know that it is a Hollywood movie and that they are going to dramatize it, but at the same time, I don't know if I"m the only one who feels this way, but I feel like I HAVE to go and witness the carnage to truly appreciiate the magnitude of the event and to be able to understand more what the survivors and family members have gone through and are still going through. Does that make sense?? It's so hard to put into words what is inside of my heart.

I mean, with me being here in Florida so far removed from New York City, that day was like watching something on tv. It seemed like a scene from a movie and it was like my mind couldn't really believe that it was really happening. You know? I was like anybody else the days after donating blood and money and anything else that I could to DO SOMETHING to help those poor people even though they said finding survivors was unlikely. I just HAD to do something. I guess the idea of seeing the movie is the same type of feeling. I hope I am making sense.

[aceshigh73]

As a NY'er I have to chime in...

I have no desire to see it.... I do like a couple of the "documentaries" that are around... 1 is narrated by DeNiro and the other by Guiliani.....
FloridaNative, if you want to see the carnage, look at those.....
I also have yet to be at ground zero. I live under an hour from Manhattan (and Im there all this week for a training class) and have no desire. Perhaps if I was going to be around the Financial Center I would go to the "viewing platform"... but I will not be part of the "tourist destination" it has become.

Ofcourse the ironic thing about being one of the few NY'ers on a forum dominated by Floridians is.... I was in ORLANDO on 9/11 amazing aint it??!?!?!

[FloridaNative]

Yeah I think a documentary would be better. I wish they had done that instead of the movie and donated the money to the survivors. That would be the right thing to do. I want to just make it clear, to avoid any misunderstandings, that my feelings of witnessing the movie are not out of that voyeur mentality or like people who like to look at car accidents on the side of the road. It's nothing like that. I don't want to see it, it's just a feeling I have of a sense of duty to truly understand what happened that day and what we lost that day and of all the families that whose lives have been forever changed. As a sense of honoring the gravity of it all, you know? I don't want to be a tourist. I don't want to contribute to lining the pockets of people who would profit from the events of that day, I just want to understand more fully and have a better sense of the reality of it all to somehow honor the dead and survivors more. Does that make any sense? But you bring up an excellent point AcesHigh. If you know of a documentary that was made that will donate profits to the families will you post it here? I would rather go and buy it and support the survivors in that way than to line the pockets of a Hollywood film maker.

[aceshigh73]

Originally aired on HBO....
Giuliani Narrated...
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00006BS70/104-1324876-9874311?v=glance&n=130

The Deniro one was aired on regular TV.... Which was amazing since they left ALL the language in it.. Im sure no one complained because of the real shock of the situation...
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00006B1HI

I am unaware if these contributed to the families.... so you could probably rent these if you wanted.... I know the Giuliani version was on netflix.com at one time....

[D]

I saw it with my girl friend the other night. We thought it was pretty good. The theater was packed. I think a lot of people were really taken back by it. If I had to do it over again, Id go see it.

[snomon1017]

I think the movie was too long in coming and I hope there will be more. America is a movie culture after all and, although I don't believe people have forgotten 9/11, I do believe that the the emotional impact has faded a little too much. Granted, I am a little biased (he says with sarcasm) since my best friend witnessed the WTC's come down from RIGHT ACROSS THE STREET, and the fact that I work at the hospital on Fort Bragg ("home of the US Army Airborne and Special Operations Group"). Seeing soldiers everyday who have been injured due to their role in the war on terrorism really gives you a different perspective on things. I have patients tell me all the time that they cannot watch TV news because it is a fairy tale. People need to understand that we were in a war years before 9/11, from the 1983 bombing on US Marines in Beirut, to the WTC bombing in 1993, to the USS Cole, and others. 9/11 was just the proverbial straw that broke the camel's back.

We need to remember why we're fighting and movies in America have a HUGE impact. Regardless of your perspective on Michael Moore's Fahrenheit 9/11, it too had an impact. And movies are always from the writer/producer/director perspective. I'd like to see them all. Look at all the WWII movies after all. I love watching those old movies. For entertainment and for education. Jews all over the world even say cerimonially, "never forget the holocaust." This is to ensure it never happends again. Well, I'm hearing too many politicians who have no clue about what and why we are fighting terrorism. We need to keep talking about 9/11 so IT never happens again.

And we all have to understand that there is no battlefront to this war. The world is alot smaller now than it was in WWII when we talked about this line or that. Now, our own homes, offices, schools, etc are potential targets. Just look at the recent war in the middle east. Isreal was targeting Hezbolla weapons, communications, supplies, and combatants. Hezbolla was targeting civilian neighborhoods. (BTW, I didn't hear this discussed much in the media.) If we want a safer world for ourselves and our children, we have to take the fight to our enemies. Again, regardless of your views on Iraq, better their backyard than ours.

To summarize a combat badge I saw recently, our soldiers, seamen, airmen, and marines really are "busting my a$$ to save yours"

[snomon1017]

BTW - thanks x10 FN (AKA Jennifer) for starting this string. I really wish more people were willing and able to talk about this stuff in a non-confrontational way. After all, we are all the same team here. We may not always agree with the coach's decisions/plays, but we only weaken ourselves by taking the fight in instead of out, where it belongs.

[GearHead_1]

I was within 5 miles of it when it happened. I have no intention of going through that again.

[snomon1017]

I think that is what is making me sit on the fence about seeing it. Exactly what you said Kelso. I know that it is a Hollywood movie and that they are going to dramatize it, but at the same time, I don't know if I"m the only one who feels this way, but I feel like I HAVE to go and witness the carnage to truly appreciiate the magnitude of the event and to be able to understand more what the survivors and family members have gone through and are still going through. Does that make sense?? It's so hard to put into words what is inside of my heart.

I mean, with me being here in Florida so far removed from New York City, that day was like watching something on tv. It seemed like a scene from a movie and it was like my mind couldn't really believe that it was really happening. You know? I was like anybody else the days after donating blood and money and anything else that I could to DO SOMETHING to help those poor people even though they said finding survivors was unlikely. I just HAD to do something. I guess the idea of seeing the movie is the same type of feeling. I hope I am making sense.

Am I spending too much time on this thread?!! Anyways, I too needed to do something! You are totally making sense. I had a private practice in Orlando, FL when 9/11 happened. It changed everything . . . and I was still a Canadian citizen at the time. I applied to the US Navy but couldn't be commissioned as an officer unless I was a US citizen. So I closed up my practice and went to work for the Army as a Contractor. As of now, I am going on 2 years working at Fort Bragg as a neuropsychologist, making a fraction of the money I could be making in private practice. But the money matters absolutely ZERO because now I am a US citizen, doing something I believe in, and helping those who are fighting for our safety and our freedom.

[BlackCoupe]

I saw it with my girl friend the other night. We thought it was pretty good. The theater was packed. I think a lot of people were really taken back by it. If I had to do it over again, Id go see it.

Sorry to be a grump, but I thought the movie was a total waste. The two guys were pinned by debris through the entire movie. All they did was manage to survive being pinned. They did not save anyone. I left the movie thinking what was that about! There was really no time given to the other guys who were actually heroes. This would include the guy who would not leave the two guys who were pinned and who was pinned as a result of falling secondary debris. He could have left, but didn't--he stayed with his comrades. Then there was the marine that they made out to be a psycho who helped find the two pinned guys. No real background on him was provided--the pinned guys got all the attention. Yes, they went in to the building, but never accomplished anything as a result of doing so. They pretty much pushed a cart around collecting equipment "getting ready" to do something.

[FloridaNative]

I think the movie was too long in coming and I hope there will be more. America is a movie culture after all and, although I don't believe people have forgotten 9/11, I do believe that the the emotional impact has faded a little too much. Granted, I am a little biased (he says with sarcasm) since my best friend witnessed the WTC's come down from RIGHT ACROSS THE STREET, and the fact that I work at the hospital on Fort Bragg ("home of the US Army Airborne and Special Operations Group"). Seeing soldiers everyday who have been injured due to their role in the war on terrorism really gives you a different perspective on things. I have patients tell me all the time that they cannot watch TV news because it is a fairy tale. People need to understand that we were in a war years before 9/11, from the 1983 bombing on US Marines in Beirut, to the WTC bombing in 1993, to the USS Cole, and others. 9/11 was just the proverbial straw that broke the camel's back.

We need to remember why we're fighting and movies in America have a HUGE impact. Regardless of your perspective on Michael Moore's Fahrenheit 9/11, it too had an impact. And movies are always from the writer/producer/director perspective. I'd like to see them all. Look at all the WWII movies after all. I love watching those old movies. For entertainment and for education. Jews all over the world even say cerimonially, "never forget the holocaust." This is to ensure it never happends again. Well, I'm hearing too many politicians who have no clue about what and why we are fighting terrorism. We need to keep talking about 9/11 so IT never happens again.

And we all have to understand that there is no battlefront to this war. The world is alot smaller now than it was in WWII when we talked about this line or that. Now, our own homes, offices, schools, etc are potential targets. Just look at the recent war in the middle east. Isreal was targeting Hezbolla weapons, communications, supplies, and combatants. Hezbolla was targeting civilian neighborhoods. (BTW, I didn't hear this discussed much in the media.) If we want a safer world for ourselves and our children, we have to take the fight to our enemies. Again, regardless of your views on Iraq, better their backyard than ours.

To summarize a combat badge I saw recently, our soldiers, seamen, airmen, and marines really are "busting my a$$ to save yours"

Wow Snomon!! Thank you so much for your eloquent remarks!! This is exactly why I started this thread to get a discussion going about it. My feelings about whether or not to see the movie are rooted in my sense of duty as an American to "never forget". Thank you so much for contributing to this thread. :applause:

[FloridaNative]

Sorry to be a grump, but I thought the movie was a total waste. The two guys were pinned by debris through the entire movie. All they did was manage to survive being pinned. They did not save anyone. I left the movie thinking what was that about! There was really no time given to the other guys who were actually heroes. This would include the guy who would not leave the two guys who were pinned and who was pinned as a result of falling secondary debris. He could have left, but didn't--he stayed with his comrades. Then there was the marine that they made out to be a psycho who helped find the two pinned guys. No real background on him was provided--the pinned guys got all the attention. Yes, they went in to the building, but never accomplished anything as a result of doing so. They pretty much pushed a cart around collecting equipment "getting ready" to do something.

Without giving too much away for those of us who haven't seen it yet, can you tell generally where the movie picks the story up? I mean does it start with the terrorists' plot or right away with the planes flying into the buildings?