Rating: 
Summary: The most important and respectful account of 9/11...
Review: When this documentary was first broadcast in March, I refused to watch it. I had images of the carnage and horror that was 9/11 being shoved in my face..and not wanting to experience this nightmare through the misfortune of others, I refrained from seeing it. I also found a documentary on these events to be distasteful and rather exploitive. When a co-worker gushed the following day about the film, I barely paid attention. I didn't want to hear it.Cut to one year later..the anniversary of this horrible day. I knew the film would be rebroadcast and didn't plan on seeing it..but I didn't move fast enough off my couch to turn the channel or hit the remote..and that is what snagged me. I sat there and watch this film from beginning to end, never taking my eyes off it. After it was over, I cursed myself for not having watched it back in March; and more still for not having the foresight to tape it. Once I heard it was released on video, I vowed to get a copy of it. Why? Simply because it documents one of the most horrific events in history and does so in an extremely respectful and no-nonsense way. We don't need to see the blood and gore that we already know was a result of these terrorist attacks; we have the common sense to know that witnessing *live* the collapse of the Trade Centers will result in nothing less then maimed and battered bodies. We also don't need to see people falling to their deaths. We have the audio to prove it. :( This part of the film is one of the most unnerving things to "witness". I will never forget it. One of the things I liked best about this film is that it does not seek to exploit the tragedy that is 9/11. It was made for the sole purpose of documenting a probie firefighters' first few months on the job. That one of their runs happened to be the World Trade Center attack is eerily ironic..and who's to say that had this attrocity never occured that the filmakers would not have released this film on tv or video, *anyway*? That it happened to capture such a tragic event in history is a "blessing" in disguise because they caught scenes that were captured nowhere else of an event that will go down in history. It also added drama to an otherwise non-eventful film..hence, the irony.. But more importantly, it showed the *humane* side of two filmakers, who could have taken it upon themselves to exploit a very painful and tragic situation, and *didn't*. This is the thing that stands out the most for me and why, above all other films out there about this tragedy, I want *this* one. This film is about *hereos*..and the making of heroes..and an extraordinary day in the life of heroes..as much as it is about the World Trade Center attacks. It is respectful..it is honest..it is real..and it doesn't pretend to be anything but a film about the making of a firefighter..who just happened to come face to face with the horror that is 9/11..and it is also about two French filmaking brothers whose only goal was to set out to capture a fireman in the making..and wound up capturing history, instead.
Rating:
Summary: Well Done
Review: I never did see the CBS special on this and I was waiting for some documentary on 9/11 that I can have to remeber that God awful day in US history.What I got and saw was an extroidenary couragious account of men who had no idea what they were facing.This documentary made me really see and feel what really went on at the WTC on that horrible day.Just looking at the faces of the firefighters you knew they were going against all odds on winning their predicament that they were in.Well done and this is truly something I will keep for the rest of my life to remeber that day in September and why we are at war with terror.
Rating:
Summary: Straight to the heart
Review: We all woke up the morning of 9/11/01 to discover our world had changed forever. Being on the West Coast, it was impossible to fathom the situation the people on the East were thrown into and the feelings of actually being there. I almost didn't watch the broadcast of this documentary when it first aired on TV, but I did - and what I got out of it was such a renewed respect for the people of NYC - especially those who gave and risked their lives for the sake of helping others. This documentary brings you from the only footage of the first plane hitting the WTC, straight into the lobby of the building - and from there you just find yourself emotionally glued to the TV. Personally, when the documentary ended, I felt that this was something everyone should see. A lot of the people in the documentary are no longer with us - their memories should be kept alive. And in these filmed memories, we literally see their final hours as heros.
Rating:
Summary: A Commerative for my children
Review: My children got to see the horrors of 9/11/01. By hearing my conversations and watching silently as I watched it unfold on TV.
At that time I had no idea how the first footage was recorded. After watching this film I realized it was due to the diligence of these 2 film makers. They had managed to capture every poignant, horrific image. The innocence during their documentary coverage of this day plays deep in to the heart of it. Telling a story and shedding the light from the inside out. To see the fireman responding under the assumption that this was just a very large accident to be dealt with. Then with realization as the buildings collapsed around them that things were worse, much worse, than they could have comprehended. I was on the edge of my seat for the majority of this film.
Someday my children will watch this...and know what a hero is. Dedicated individuals who try to get a job done.
Rating:
Summary: The most poignant 9/11 Documentary made yet!
Review: I watched this just this evening because last night it was on CBS again. I was thinking that they were going to censor it because they didn't know what they were showing before. good thing they didn't, because if they censored it, it would have taken away the emotional aspect of the movie. I do not like language in fact I despise it, but for this film I understand why it was kept in and not censored. Anyway I am thinking of buying the DVD that is hopefully uncut and uncensored because that would just make the filmmakers (the disc is in fact called the filmmaker's commemorative edition) upset. Anyway, get this movie and watch with warning!
Rating:
Summary: The most important documentary on 9/11
Review: This incredible film takes an incomprehensible tragedy and puts human faces on it---most importantly, the faces are those of the men who went into the buildings (in some cases being the last images of them alive) without a second thought. In a strange way, it is a celebration of sorts---an homage to the bravery of fire and police officers everywhere. Incredible footage, edited with exquisite sensitivity.
Rating:
Summary: Awestruck
Review: The most amazing documentary I have ever seen. You have to have this to show your children and there children. This video shows the true terror and heroism that our US citizens went thru on that fateful day. You'll never look at 9/11 the same after seeing this. I cant say enough. I will own this video if only to never forget!
Rating:
Summary: An Amazing Story
Review: This was truly one of the most powerful and personal stories I've ever seen aired about the September 11th tragedy. Originally planned to be a documentary about a probationary firefighter, the filmmakers, two French brothers, just happened to be filming at the firehouse on that horrible morning. The first brother was actually riding along with some of them firemen who were on a call right near the World Trade Center. He managed to capture on film the roar of the first plane overhead and the startled looks of the firefighters hearing it, then actually followed the first plane's path into the building. He stayed with the team and actually has footage of being inside the lobby of the Tower. He stayed there until the second building was evacuated. The second brother also managed to capture some truly remarkable film, as he stayed with the "newbie", then set off to find his missing brother, who he assumed was killed. This film is not about gore, but just a very real, very personal story of a bunch of guys who were just doing their jobs and what happened to them that morning and in the days following the disaster. This is a great story.
Rating:
Summary: Simple, Uncomfortable, Unpretentious
Review: Unlike most of the 11th September media coverage this doco was not filmed by design. On 11th September - as they had been doing for weeks previously - the film-makers Gedeon & Jules Naudet were filming a documentary about a probationary firefighter's passage from boyhood to manhood when they found themselves literally in the middle of the destruction of the WTC. It is also hard to argue that the documentary is opportunistic. There is not a single suggestion in this documentary that the Naudet brothers were filming for the sake of filming. They didn't randomly "steal" bits of whatever footage they could get. Images of "strangers" are comparatively infrequent in this documentary and - critically - serve only to contextualise the stories of the firefighters with whom Gedeon and Jules already had a relationship. In turn, the trust placed in the film-makers by the firefighters is tangible. It serves as testament that this documentary was about a deeply personal story not a contrived "opportunity". Some people have questioned whether the film-makers should be making any money from this doco. Aside from the fact that the documentary was used to raise funds for the families of firefighters who perished in the WTC - it is strange to imagine that film-makers (or any other creative artists), are somehow less entitled than everyone else to earn a livelihood from their work. It is particularly strange when the work is of this quality. Reportedly, the naudet brothers rejected numerous and lucrative offers to sell their footage outright to major media companies - choosing instead to produce documentary themselves with the participation of the firefighters. One gets the sense that the experience of the Naudet brothers parallels at least in part the experience of the firefighters - they simply found themselves in a situation by virtue of timing, their jobs and their community. Like the firefighters, the Naudet brothers appeared to do their best job under what must have been unimaginably frightening and confusing conditions. In many respects, throughout the documentary, the film-makers story and the story of this particular group of firefighters is indistinguishable.
The pre-existing affection and respect which the Naudet brothers have for the firefighters is enormously humbling. I felt less like a passive news voyeur, and much more like a guest being given permission to share a part of what must surely be counted amongst this "family's" most intimate and life-changing moments. For me, it was this this contextualisation, the pre-existing relationships, the subsequent brotherhood between Jules and Gedeon and firefighters which emerged over a 36 hour period, and the very explicit intention of the Naudet brothers which gives this documentary a rare integrity in a sea of 9/11 media sensationalism. Some people will be uncomfortable with certain graphic elements of the footage. However, it is apparent that Gedeon & Jules themselves felt more uncomfortable with filming many aspects of the events than someone watching them through a two dimensional screen could ever be (with the obvious exception of victims' families and eyewitnesses). Unlike the mainstream media boys - who only stopped replaying graphic footage after members of the public complained, and then who repeatedly commended themselves for doing so - Gedeon & Jules neither hide us from the reality of their experience, nor expose the viewer to anything more than that which is relevant to their specific story. In a strange way, this allows the viewer to walk alongside the firefighters - but only to the extent that we have their permission to do so. In doing so, the brothers are amongst the few who have managed to avoid sensationalism, exploitation, and patronisation all at once. This is achieved because Gedeon & Jules never claim someone else's - a stranger's - story as their own. By allowing the story shared by the firefighters and the film-makers to emerge naturally through the medium - the Naudet's have suceeding in producing one of the few 9/11 accounts which neither negates nor globalises the events in New York, but is instead both compassionate and proportionate.
Rating: 
Summary: Good except for Troy McCleur!
Review: The inexperience of the camera work brought the viewer so much closer to the action, overall it was excellent apart from, as you mentioned, DeNiro dropping his "Hi, I'm Troy McCleur, you may remember me from films portraying death and violence such as the Godfather Part II and Goodfellas"
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