Rating: 
Summary: A 60 Minute Masterpiece
Review: I recently viewed "In Memoriam" for the first time in over a year and a half and it still sends chills down my spine. Every image captured, whether it be video or a still photograph, is remarkable. HBO did such a fantastic job of putting this together. It holds nothing back, which is part of what makes it brilliant. Everybody should see it at least once.
Rating:
Summary: A 60 Minute Masterpiece
Review: I recently viewed "In Memoriam" for the first time in over a year and a half and it still sends chills down my spine. Every image captured, whether it be video or a still photograph, is remarkable. HBO did such a fantastic job of putting this together. It holds nothing back, which is part of what makes it brilliant. Everybody should see it at least once.
Rating:
Summary: Numbing
Review: I resisted watching this documentary until recently. Having lost several friends who were members of the NYFD as well as two neighbors it was hard to get to it. It is a numbing expierence to watch. Although almost an hour long I felt as if time was standing still. It is sheer understatement to call In Memoriam a unique and emotionally devastating piece of work. It truly stands alone.The producers choose not to have a narrator. Instead people closely involved in that day's horror provide the narrative thread through the story. City officials, regular people and members of the uniformed services are the voices who guide us. The one constant throughout is former Mayor Giuliani. Perhaps the most gut wrenching the widow of the Fire Captain who commanded Rescue 1. You will probably have to stop after that sequence to pull yourself together. Other voices are heard that bring even more pain. They are those of recorded telephone calls made by those trapped and later lost in the Towers. The filmed footage comes from some 150 video and still photographers both professional and amateur. Be warned that moving and still images of those who leapt from the Towers is included. Some say it should not be. I gentley disagree. For all I know one of those I am seeing may be one of my neighbors who was lost but the full horror of that day should never be hidden. The producers let the cameras have their say and it is a powerful statement that they make. For the music works by several American classical composers such as Aaron Copland, William Schuman and Bernard Herrmann are used and are performed by the New York Philharmonic under Leonard Slatkin. It is never obtrusive but provides a subtle under current. Narrative , images and music are all deftly blended to form an unforgetable look at a day that paradoxically showed humanity at its worst and at its very best. Having watched it once does not make it easy to watch again. I know I will eventually but one showing burns in images that will last a long time.
Rating:
Summary: Great and Touching
Review: I saw this when it was on tv and it was very moving. One of the only September 11th I would get. Be aware though it is sad!
Rating:
Summary: From A 9/11 Survivor
Review: I thank each and every reviewer who took the time to add their comments and thoughts to a film memorial of 9/11, World Trade Center Towers tragedy. I treasure each and every one of you! My spouse and I resided on the Lower West Side, Battery Park City, Gateway Plaza, So. End Ave. As survivors of the 9/11 World Trade Center Towers tragedy... our story is one in a basket of billions. From our Gateway Plaza apartment, facing the street and 300 yards from the Towers, we helplessly witnessed all from our apartment windows. The closeness of the Towers viewed from our windows - gave an illusion that one could reach out and touch the Towers; their beauty with night lights reaching toward the sky promoted a contemplative emotion. We viewed the planes entering the Towers, the overwhelming inferno, individuals jumping, the collapse of the Towers, the darkness as debris hit our windows with a fury. What occurred over a period of hours, seemed like a much shorter time span. The darkness was darker than an eclipse, darker than the darkest night; and then a momentary hush after the air cleared. Viewing the roof garden one floor below, with the human reaction of looking out to see if someone might be on that roof garden and in need of help. Debris strewn everywhere, recording tape and paper hung from the trees of the garden and oh, so much ash. The momentary hush, whether real or imagined, then the viewing of debris for a second, fantasized that a parade had just passed by on our short street. I experienced anger not fear - anger that factions could bring such evil deeds to our wonderful country. I now really understand the expression a feeling of helplessness, I couldn't fix what had just happened.
We stayed in our apartment until 5:15 p.m. that day, waiting for someone to knock on our door to advise us to evacuate, with nothing but a battery radio to keep us abreast of happenings. "In a New York minute", we evacuated via the stairwell touched with ash, the result of a first floor door left open. With a few belongings, gathered with a tad of thought of what was being left behind, we stepped out of the door onto the pavement, seeing and standing in ever so much ash and debris, I wanted to turn around and go back to our home. It was one of many moments of reality I carry to this day. At first thought, we planned to walk up the East Side, but opted to pass through the building in back of the apartment complex. We gained access to the Esplanade walking the short distance to reach the Hudson River dock - North Cove. We were escorted to the New Jersey shore via New York Police boat. From the boat deck, we viewed even more damage to the Manhattan skyline, especially noting the zigzag shape of the side of the American Express building, housed in one of the World Financial Center buildings along with the glorious Winter Garden, as well as the fall of World Trade Center Building 7. We were taken to the Jersey City Hospital, attended to by compassionate staff. Then traveled by National Guard truck to Hoboken, NJ where we were housed by a wonderful family who welcomed, with great trust, strangers to their home. On Friday 9/14, our eldest son & daughter-in-law drove from New Hampshire via New Jersey routes to Hoboken for transport us to New Hampshire for temporary residence with our daughter, who along with her friend and our youngest son, greeted us with open arms & the overwhelming feeling of not wanting to let go with each hug that followed. {I sometimes wonder what the count of hugs were given from day 9/11 and long thereafter? Billions.} Our daughter and son had spent that Friday in New Hampshire collecting items of clothing and necessities which the Concord community generously opened their hearts and donated by churches, stores, individuals, employers, American Red Cross, et al. One of our grandchildren -- he was 8 at that time - arrived home from a few days with his Dad. He hugged us so tight, understanding the depth of 9/11 events for someone so young and yet so wise. He told Grandpa & Babcia (Polish for Grandma) that he had something for them... his Mom was not even aware of his gift. He had spoken to his classmates about his grandparents' closeness in location of the World Trade Center Towers. Presented to us was a large envelope full of hand-made cards from each of his classmates. And if that isn't love and caring, I don't know what is - from the hearts and minds of children!
Residing now in New Hampshire, not because of 9/11 drove us away, but circumstances just went that way as we continue to put our lives into perspective. We Miss - New York City deeply; events found nowhere else in the USA, the introduction to & interaction with so many wonderful cultures. There isn't a day or night in the past two years, that we do not think of 9/11... the Lady of Liberty & Ellis Island both on the confluence of the East River and the Hudson River, viewed from the lower part of the Esplanade. And that Lady of Liberty wept, I just know it, and she still stands with pride and remembrance that the USA is a democracy that will prevail. We Remember - the victims, the survivors, their friends and families, the workers from the public and private sector, the volunteers, our neighbors in Gateway Plaza and staff in the small group of stores on South End Avenue, Battery Park City. We Remember - the places we visited, the book signings attended, the celebrities we met, the concerts and theater plays, the movies, the arts, the parks, the strangers we talked with, on streets, on subway and those while standing in line for an event... yet there are so many places we didn't get to. We Remember - Always In Our Hearts, Forever In Our Souls, Heroes, Victims, Survivors One and All... We Were There.
Painfully, the lump in my throat and the twist in my stomach, the tears in my eyes and the pain in my heart, to the depth of my soul, forever go on. "God, teach me to laugh again,
but never let me forget that I cried."
Katy Fisher
Rating:
Summary: Review from a Dutch Viewer.
Review: I was looking for a DVD that contains historic footage and stories of the events that took place in NY on 9/11/01. Well, I must say that this DVD really leaps you back in time; back to the moments that the plains hit (different cameraviews); back to the moments of the collapse, the panic, the anger, the rescueworkers and all the emotions that come up when you experience such a horrific event. Tears came out, when I put myself in place of the people crying at the funerals of their loved-ones. The editing of this DVD is brilliantly done, you really experience the feeling of being in the lobby of the WTC 1 building a few moments before the collapse, the music is sad and low profile. For younger viewers I think this DVD is not appropriate. You see images of people jumping out of buildings, and the grief is heartbreaking. I cannot imagine a DVD covering these events better as this one.
Rating:
Summary: Poignant, Stirring Reminder
Review: I was stunned after seeing this HBO special. The first half is shocking: never-before-seen stills and videos, agonizingly real, disturbing. The second half reminds us that 3047 people from 83 countries were savagely murdered, leaving behind 3251 children who lost a parent. Yes, I was moved to tears. The cameras and video recorders were there, quietly filming planes flying into buildings, people jumping to their deaths, family members mourning. So painful to watch, yet required viewing for anyone who is starting to forget about what happened September 11, 2001. All I could think of was the beast who planned this mass murder, and how he gloated and laughed about it afterwards. And the countries who were responsible for funding it... America will prevail, and we will not forget.
Rating:
Summary: Still Extremely Powerful
Review: I watched this recently, on the third anniversary of that dark, dark day, and by the end, I had tears running down my cheeks. I live in Texas and I've never been to NYC, but 9/11 changed me, irrevocably and dramatically. Nothing in life is more horrifying than the image of that second plane knifing into the tower...it was and is the stuff of nightmares.
This film has great footage, much of it new, and the cooperation of Giuliani and his staff makes it all the more valuable. Regardless of your politics, what Giuliani, Bush, and Pataki faced on that day was beyond all imagining...and they, and America, did pretty damn good by me.
Never forget, folks...
Rating:
Summary: The Only 9/11 Documentary That Matters
Review: I'm allowing myself only one purchase on the topic and this DVD is it. As someone who used to live in NYC, and walked by the Towers on a regular basis, I still cannot believe this actually happened. Long may the American spirit live.
Rating:
Summary: An unflinching record for posterity
Review: If you are looking for a straightforward, non-politicized record of the attacks on America on September 11, 2001, this is the DVD to buy. It combines video footage from many different news organizations and ordinary citizens with interviews of Mayor Giuliani and many of his staff to present an unflinching, uncensored record of that terrible day. If you saw this when HBO originally aired it (I did not), you know that some of the images are disturbing. This program does not apologize for the graphic nature of many of the images, and I do not believe it should. Mayor Giuliani says it best in the program, but I will dare to paraphrase him here: We have to cry, and we will cry, but our tears will remind us of what happened that day and build in us the resolve to do everything we can to ensure that nothing like this ever happens again. If you want some permanent record of this tragic event of our history so that our posterity can see it as well, buy this DVD. It is painful to watch. You will weep. But we must all remember, and this program will help us all do that.
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