Rating: 
Summary: Stark, Minimalist, Unsettling...
Review: This piece is very effective, doubly so because it doesn't attempt to editorialize...we don't have narrators reading portentous hyperbolic melodramatic drivel, no manipulative music trying to tell us how to feel...what we have are stark, live-audio-from-the-site images, covering the first 24 hours after the explosion. The confusion, the eerie silence, the destruction...the images do the talking, not self-involved filmmakers...it all builds to a solitary firefighter, searching for survivors, standing on a huge pile of rubble, calling out "is anybody there", only to be answered in silence. That image, disturbing in both its simplicity and the horror it speaks volumes about, was a brilliant editorial choice as a conclusion...no music or editorializing needed, thank you. This is a historical document, pure and simple.
Rating: 
Summary: Short, but successful in presenting the physical aftermath
Review: This video does what most of the others do not (except for the French/CBS "9-11"), and that is portray what the city looked and sounded like in the hours following the collapse of the towers.It needs to be acknowledged that this shows ONLY the physical aftermath of the disaster. This does not capture any of the stories behind those who were there, or those who witnessed the attack. There is no portrayal of the emotional aftermath. At the time the video was shot, there was already a "lockdown" on the city. Thousands of people like me, who escaped the WTC and walked home, were unable to take public or private transportation back to Manhattan for at least 48 hours. Technically, the streets of Manhattan were open north of Canal Street, but no car service was willing to take me from Brooklyn to Manhattan for fear of not being able to leave Manhattan once they got there. And full subway service from Brooklyn to Manhattan was restored only on Thursday, 9/13. So this video shows us what those who remained in lower Manhattan would have seen and heard - and that was dust and silence, respectively. That might be boring to those who expected this to portray more of the attack or the detailed activities and words of the rescue and recovery workers. However, this documentary keeps all other people at a distance from the camera. I wonder if that was intentional, but in any case, the effect is that this video makes you feel as if you have just dropped into the WTC neighborhood, and you are free to walk around and view the destruction at ground-level. The video takes up to areas that were under heavy police security, such as the shattered Winter Garden at the WFC (World Financial Center). It takes us to a Health Club on Rector Street. It takes us to West Broadway, Vesey Street, Church Street, Broadway, and Fulton Street, to name a few. If you live in NYC or know the area, this video will give you a quick tour of the streets that surrounded the WTC's 16-acre footprint. I find it refreshing and wise that this video does not have narration, music, interviews, montages, or any politicians promoting themselves (Rudy!) or any flag-waving. I think I'm in the minority when I say this, but I feel that most of the DVD's on this event are somewhat exploitative and feature music and narration that intends to provoke an emotional response, which I feel is somewhat manipulative. If TV commercials tell us what to buy and how to live, what do we do when a news documentary tells us how to feel? And some news organizations have used this as a PR vehicle. That CNN "America Remembers" DVD is virtually a self-promotional product for the network. And HBO's "In Memoriam," while featuring a lot of excellent material, still features segments that belong to the world of TV Commercials, not documentaries. The interview with Giuliani looks like something he would produce if he ever ran for national office. The documentaries on the towers (NOVA, Discovery Channel) have been first-rate. And the "9-11" documentary has the best of everything - story, drama, the timeline of that day, and the "you are there" feel. However, this short video has the best videography. There are some shots here that are as good as any photograph. The collapse of what was my building, 1 WTC, is captured better here than in all the videos and news footage I have seen. And the sound of the crowds below shrieking was just as I remember it. The "sunrise" shots of the WTC's steel facade (the exterior "lattice") are also memorable here. If you are looking for a video that just captures how the neighborhood looked and sounded after the attack, this is the video you want.
Rating: 
Summary: This isn't helping!
Review: When will people learn? Within a week of the WTC attack, more books than I could bear to see were published about it, every single person in America was on the TV talking about it, and there was nowhere to go to find solace and understanding. All we could see were people becoming either blinded by anger or overwhelmed with pain. And now that things are just starting to cool off (STARTING), they release a DVD like this? First of all, products like this only bring up simplistic messages that we already know, so there's no need to buy it. The message is: 9-11 was a really, really bad day. WE KNOW. Skip the DVD. Secondly, it is unethical, and in my opinion, outrageous to make ANY profit off of such a tragedy. It's like selling "I survived the WTC collapse" T-shirts. How can any decent human being accept such a disgusting capitalistic venture, even if it is "just a documentary"? Next we come to the problem of what this DVD offers you. Insight into the problem? No. Comforting words? No. Sublety? No. Art? No. It just gives you a chance to bring up all the pain and wretchedness one more time. Just a chance for you to pop the ol' DVD in your player one night so you can say to yourself, "Yes, the world bites! That's right!" This DVD is little more than a gateway to all the negative emotions that we should be trying to avoid! We can't just ignore it - but we shouldn't obsess with the problem, we should look beyond it, to the future! I know that people will say, "This is a documentary." They'll try to pretend that it means something more than it does. But it doesn't! History will be written with or without a simple DVD. If you really, really want to remind yourself of pain and tragedy, just watch the news. If you want to remind yourself of SPECIFIC pain or tragedy, find an old newspaper, or go to the library. And if you need documentation on what the event was like (which I can only assume is because you are reading this review many years in the future, or you are suffering from amnesia) then you can find it completely for free on the internet. If you feel the need to express your patriotism (or just compassion for human beings), then there are better ways to do it. I know this probably isn't a helpful review, but I had to get this off my chest.
Rating: 
Summary: disappointed
Review: You see, this documentary does something that most network news channels are afraid to explore... it displays raw film with raw audio as recorded on-scene in real-time. No sugar-coated interpretations, although the average television viewer might find it difficult to think for themselves; to explore their own thoughts in the chilling silence. Around the city during and after the WTC event, you hear the planes, the crowds, the firefighters, the police, the sirens, car alarms, screams, footsteps, and... the silence. No voice-over commentators, no colorful on-screen titles, nothing but it.
Rating:
Summary: An Unbiased Eye
Review: You see, this documentary does something that most network news channels are afraid to explore... it displays raw film with raw audio as recorded on-scene in real-time. No sugar-coated interpretations, although the average television viewer might find it difficult to think for themselves; to explore their own thoughts in the chilling silence. Around the city during and after the WTC event, you hear the planes, the crowds, the firefighters, the police, the sirens, car alarms, screams, footsteps, and... the silence. No voice-over commentators, no colorful on-screen titles, nothing but it.
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