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Summary: god bless america!
Review: after seeing this on cbs in march, one can only hope that we as a country never forget what happen that day and to tell future generations the truth,my kids one day will watch this and i will tell them how i felt and what i saw on t.v., the police, firefighters, and ny city officals did the very best they could under extreme difficult work, i hope and pray that people should get a copy of this dvd and remember what happened and where they were when they first got the news about this terrible day in american history, god bless and remember all of our everyday heroes!
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Summary: No sugar coating here
Review: I watched the TV broadcast of this film not knowing what to expect. What I got was an excellent documentary which started out mildly enough with two French film makers following the training of a probationary firefighter in New York City. Unfortunately for them, it looked as if they were going to make a rather run-of-the-mill, uneventful documentary. It apparently had been a slow summer for the FDNY. Then came the morning of September 11, 2001 and a routine call to check out a gas leak on a city street. What followed is the most important film of that day ever. There are no talking-head news reporters. There are no politicians making speeches. What we see are the firefighters in the lobby of the World Trade Center, having no idea what is really happening above them. From their position inside the building they couldn't see what we were seeing outside. They were kept guessing. But they could see enough to know that people were jumping out of the building. Although they had to wonder what could be so bad above that jumping from those upper stories was preferable to waiting for whatever happened, these firefighters also knew that it was their job to go up and meet headon with whatever those who jumped were fleeing. This documentary shows a side of September 11 that we were not allowed to see in the media. Everyone should see this at least once.
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Summary: This is nice, but...
Review: It's really nice to have this documentary on DVD for historical purposes, but unless the proceeds are being used to help the victims or help in the rebuild, some people are capitalizing on 9/11 and that is wrong!!
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Summary: I want my children to see this...
Review: When my sons are old enough I would like them to see "9/11". I feel that this film, above all else, represents the truest sense of what it was like on that terrible day. This film is so respectful of both the heroes who survived and the victims who perished. It is the least sensationalized version of the events that I have seen since that tragic day. My oldest son wants to be a firefighter and I think that "9/11" is an honest and wonderful portrayel of what these brave, often unsung heroes go through. Bravo to the Naudet brothers for using the medium of the documentary to bring the world to Ground Zero and experience for just a few horrifying moments what it was like to be in the belly of the beast.
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Summary: 911 Insider Story
Review: The footage in this video in amazing. It clearly shows the tragedy of 911 that has been little reported by the media. Fire captains frantically try to communicate on defective radios to contact fire teams. It shows how the NYPD and firemen where unable to communicate. Becuase of these radio problems many of the Fireman would die needlessly because they would never hear the order to evacute. The brothers footage is a tragic retelling of how same radio problems that happened in the first WTC bombing would prove fatal years later. This footage has been reverently watched by firecrews all over the country. 9/11 is the truth of what really happened, much more than just a tale of heroism and courage.
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Summary: The best of them all
Review: By far the most "real" documentary made about the WTC attacks. Certainly no small part of this films ability to show the events of that day in such absolutely gripping detail is for the fact the subject matter was already a real-life, "you are there" type of documentary pertaining to the NYFD probie they were following. Since viewing this film on TV I've occasionally searched to see if it would be released. Very glad to see that it is, seeing as how I was so gripped by watching it the first time I forgot all about taping it.
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Summary: How did this ever get played on broadcast TV?
Review:
The sun had not even set on September 11, before the powerful Media had already begun to expunge the images and sounds of that morning's terrorist attacks. The mind cannot begin to comprehend the horror of being trapped above the raging fire, with no rescue possible, and then to be crushed by hundreds of thousands of tons of concrete, glass, steel...
But where are the images? Why don't we demand to see the carnage caused by those insane, evil haters of Western civilization? Why have we, sheeplike, been content to look at sentimental pictures of candlelight ceremonies? Do we really believe that it will all go away if we just think lovely thoughts and pretend that the rest of the world is as tolerant as we are? That kind of thinking is what allowed 9-11 to happen.
Don't get me wrong. I would never even stop to look at a wreck on the freeway. But there is no way to make the horror of 9-11 real, unless we can see the kind of damage to human beings it brought about. We need to see--if only fleetingly--those images of people who jumped to their death. We need to see the broken pieces of human beings who moments earlier had been doing their job--sitting at their desk, working a cash register, flying to a meeting, cleaning a window or serving coffee in a restaurant. We need to see those images, because only our anger will help us prevent another horrible day like that.
But the same media which gleefully shows images of Palestinian bodies blown up by Israelis (but oddly enough rarely shows Israeli children blown up by Palestinian suicide bombers), somehow believes that we are too sensitive to view the burned corpses in the WTC lobby.
This film does not show any carnage, but the sounds of falling bodies crashing through roofs is clearly audible in many scenes.
And every time the crash is heard, the firemen were hushed and respectful. No flowery words were necessary to make the point that this film so eloquently makes with raw video: Firemen are men of action who live by the words, "Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his fellow man."
The film could be a little shorter. But it is a moving and honest tribute to not only the firefighters but also the random strangers who handed out bottles of water to choking people, or put their arm around an old woman and helped her to safety. And most of all it is a sad testimony to those who paid with their lives for our society's failure to be vigilant.
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Summary: Faithful and respectful record of that horrible day.
Review: Words still fail to properly express the absolute horror endured by all who experienced 9/11, either firsthand or over the television. This documentary of that awful day, filmed by French filmmakers Gedeon and Jules Naudet, provides a medium where viewers can relive, but yet, come to terms, with the horrors of that day. Given the enormous wealth of footage taken that day, it was only a matter of time before that material was put together into some kind of video record. When word came down that, in early March, documentary footage shot by the Naudet brothers would be broadcast without interruption on CBS, I felt both apprehension and anticipation. I was in anticipation because I needed to see it in order to come to terms in my own mind with the events that happened. I was concerned about the prospect of this documentary because there were chances that it could be superficial and/or exploitive, which would have been a tremendous shame. Much to my relief, the Naudets' "9/11" special was nothing like that. It presents both a factual and honorable record of that day.
The circumstances by which the Naudet brothers ended up filming on the front line of the worst U.S. disaster since Pearl Harbor were quite interesting. The filmmakers, who got the only video footage from inside the WTC after the attack, were initially in New York to film a documentary about the journey of a fireman from young academy recruit to tested veteran. Interviews with the recruits of the FDNY academy lead the Naudets to select Tony Benetatos as the subject of their film. He seemed to embody the idealism and determination that were crucial to a member of the FDNY. With the assistance of firefighting friend, James Hanlon, the Naudets were able to follow Benetatos as he was assigned to Hanlon's firehouse, Engine 7, Ladder 1. Throughout the summer, they tracked him as he was getting educated in the ways of being a fireman. Right up until the evening of September 10th, the documentary footage was of a jovial, albeit uneventful, nature. That would all change the next morning. As Gedeon Naudet was the more accomplished camera man, Jules would frequently go out with the firemen on any call in order to perfect his camera technique. This morning, Jules went out early with Battalion Chief, Joseph Pfeifer, and several others to investigate a gas leak 10 blocks south of the WTC. What happened next was caught on film and among the most chilling images anyone has every seen. Something seemed to roar overhead and everyone looked up to see commercial airliner flying dangerously low. A few seconds later, every one's gaze (as well as the camera's) was trained on the North Tower of the WTC, and all watched in horror as plane slammed into its upper floors. This IS the only known footage of the first plane hitting. Instantly, Pfeifer and the rest of the firemen call in disaster and proceed directly to the site, with Jules tagging along with the permission of Chief Pfeifer. Everyone knows the sequence of events that happened next, with second plane crashing and both towers coming down. However, it is because of Jules Naudet's camera work that people have an archival record of the firefighters coming to terms with gravity of the events that have occurred and the grim determination with which they were dedicated the resolving it.
There are criticisms and protests about this documentary having been released, but it must be understood that almost any footage of that day would be subject to controversy. Too many people were affected by it and the wounds and emotions are still very raw. The Naudets deserve much credit for how they handled the filming and the editing of this footage into the "9/11" documentary. There were many chances to be exploitive and show far too much graphic footage of that attack. Yet, the Naudets avoided doing so on each and every occasion. Upon entering the North Tower, screams were heard to Jules right. There were several people on fire, having been engulfed by the jet fuel that shot down the elevator shaft. This footage was not edited out of the documentary because it was never filmed in the first place as Jules thought it would have been disrespectful to do so. The sounds of the rest of that morning told the tale of the horrors that were not necessary capture on video. Jules kept focused on the actions of the firefighters working feverishly to control the situation and begin rescuing people. The loud, almost bomb-like crashes, happened with terrifying regularity and signaled another person who had chosen to die by their own hand and jump rather than let the fire get them. Each time, the firefighters looked up and cringed, because they knew what it meant. At no time, though were images of the people falling or the aftermath on the ground filmed. Of course, there was no getting around the horror of the next image: the firefighters frantically scrambling out of the lobby as the South Tower fell and made everything black as night. The abject terror of that scene can scarcely be described. In the aftermath of both towers collapsing, the documentary focused primarily on the rescue efforts and concerns about the safety of fellow firefighters.
Thanks to the Naudet brothers, we now have a very accurate and respectful documentary of 9/11's 'day of infamy'. Having a piece of history like this to view will allow people to never completely forget that day, while also allowing them to come to terms with it.
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Summary: Glad to Finally see this documentary released to the Public
Review: When I first saw commercials advertising this documentary about 9/11 on CBS, I was skeptical about it. I was concerned that it would be a documentary put together by a news agency that would over dramatize an already traumatic event. Instead it was a documentary created by two French filmmakers that were brothers who got caught up right in the middle of the events of 9/11. They were originally making a documentary about a probationary firefighter finding his place in the fire company he was assigned. While creating this documentary the events of 9/11 occurred and were captured in their documentary. This is the best account of the events that occurred on that tragic day, and if you have not seen it yet, I strongly encourage you to see it.
Rating:
Summary: Jaw Dropping...
Review: ...as if that day wasn't shocking enough! I watched this special on tv on the six month aniversary of the attacks and every emotion went through me again. This film is in the raw. 100% real emotion, real thoughts, and on the spot footage as the 1st plane crashed into tower 1. The filming continued into the lobby of tower 1 as all the fire fighters planned the next move as tower 2 was struck. No media pictures or news cameras have captured what Jules and Gedeon captured on film that terrrible day. Two brothers, each with cameras, one inside tower 1 and one in the streets of NYC, each filming history. If you want to know what American heros and families whent through that day or to see on the front lines this film is one to show you. It is difficult to watch but at the same time it is a salute to Americas bravery and the strenght of a nation. GOD BLESS AMERICA!
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