Entry: Why I Won't See 'World Trade Center' Thursday, August 03, 2006



The buzz among Conservatives is that Oliver Stone's new movie about 9/11, "World Trade Center," is without political bias. If that's true, one has to wonder whether Liberals will attack the movie for being too maudlin and pro-American. Personally, I'll never know, because I will never see it for several reasons. And, for the record, I didn't see "United 93," either.

Regardless of the movie's bias or lack of same, it was made by notorious anti-American director Oliver Stone, who never met a Communist dictator he didn't like, and who referred to the terrorist attacks as "the revolt of September 11th." The movie also features actress Maggie Gyllenhaal, who believes the United States is "responsible in some way" for 9/11. People like that don't deserve a dime of my hard-earned American cash, nor do the anti-American causes which some of that money will ultimately fund. I don't need to watch Hollywood half-wits faking shock and sorrow they may have felt for perhaps a few seconds at best before they began blaming America for being the victim of terrorism.

My memories of 9/11 have not yet begun to fade. I almost wish they would. I will be able to see those people falling -- or worse, jumping -- out of those windows any time I close my eyes for the rest of my life. When I travel to north New Jersey or New York City, I'm still unable to stop myself from searching the now-unfamiliar skyline for towers where none now exist. .

When I want to see a movie about real New York heroes on September 11th, I'll watch the footage shot by two French filmmakers who happened to be making a documentary about a probationary firefighter that day. Jules and Gedeon Naudet followed the men of a lower Manhattan firehouse as they dealt with the attacks on the Twin Towers and the immediate aftermath. The accidental documentary, entitled simply "9/11," did a far better job than any slick Hollywood blockbuster ever could.

And when I want to learn about our enemies, I'll watch "Obsession: Radical Islam's War Against the West," which I first saw when it premiered in Philadelphia in March 2006. Naturally, it became available on Google video right after I ordered the DVD, but it's money well spent.

I need no big-budget, big-screen reminders only five years after 9/11. Get back to me on the fiftieth anniversary, perhaps.
   11 comments

IrishDiablo
August 3, 2006   11:03 AM PDT
 
For personal and political reasons I refuse to see either movie. For one, I think that it is way too soon. In fact, I don't think there will ever be a moment in my lifetime that it's not too soon. This is not like making a movie about an earthquake, a tidal wave or some other unpreventable "act of God". This is about a malicious, heinous attack on the very Freedom that makes us Americans. It is a brutal crime committed against innocent civilians by a radical people in the name of a skewed, distorted rendition of an ancient religion. No, that was far too explanatory. It is the WORST CRIME EVER COMMITTED against the United States of America. Even more so than Pearl Harbor because this was on everyday working civilians.

I still remember the exact moment I first heard about the attacks. I woke up that morning to go to work and I turned on the news. At that point, only one plane had hit and it was expected to be an accident. I got out of the house, drove down to the station and there I was, on a train headed to work in the city (Philadelphia). I was listening to "The Barsky Show" as I had done every morning of the week. (For whatever reason, WMMR comes in loud and clear throughout the city and WYSP is spotty at best.) Well, just as I could see the city on the horizon, the news broke of the 2nd plane hitting. At that point it was clear that it was an attack and not an accident. I was looking out the window of the train, gazing at the city and I saw the two Philly high-rises (Liberty One and Liberty Two). I broke into somber tears, thinking what it would be like to be on a train going to NY, looking out a window and seeing the devastation unfold before my very eyes. I knew there were people who were in that very situation and I deeply sympathized with them.

That day put a hole in my heart that will never mend and any movie that brings that moment back to life from any view is taunting me for that feeling of loss and taunting the freedoms that were challenged that day in such horrendous fashion.
IrishDiablo
August 3, 2006   11:06 AM PDT
 
Oh, and after the 2nd plane hit and the news broke on the radio, this is the song they went to when Barsky found it too hard to talk at that moment:

------------------------------------------
Collective Soul - "The World I Know"
------------------------------------------

Has our conscience shown?
Has the sweet breeze blown?
Has all the kindness gone?
Hope still lingers on.
I drink myself of newfound pity
Sitting alone in New York City
And I don't know why.

Are we listening
To hymns of offering?
Have we eyes to see
That love is gathering?
All the words that I've been reading
Have now started the act of bleeding
Into one.

So I walk up on high
And I step to the edge
To see my world below.
And I laugh at myself
As the tears roll down.
'Cause it's the world I know.
It's the world I know.
Maureen
August 6, 2006   08:30 AM PDT
 
I too have not seen United 93 nor will I see Oliver Stone's film. I find it utterly discusting even for Hollywood to make such a film. Making money on the souls of the dead is discusting. I will never forget that day, it is forever with me and always will be. I see it just as clearly in my minds eye today as I did on 9/11. Who needs his take and views??? Pathetic.
Buckeye
August 6, 2006   07:13 PM PDT
 
I have not seen nor do I intend to see either of these movies for the same reasons listed abvove.
Korla Pundit
August 7, 2006   12:36 PM PDT
 
Agreed.
Irish Diablo
August 14, 2006   10:22 AM PDT
 
Hey Cav - Bum and BA just went to see this and they apparently liked it. I'm really surprised BA went considering that he is from NY and knew people who perished in the attack. :-(
JM
August 14, 2006   04:53 PM PDT
 
I'm surprised either of them went.
Karen Hopson
August 14, 2006   05:53 PM PDT
 
Anyone who chooses NOT to see Oliver Stone's World Trade Center is only cutting off his nose to spite his face. What an utterly ridiculous stance. It is a masterpiece; unpolitical and great and intense entertainment. Get your head out of your ass, mate!!!!
JM
August 14, 2006   05:59 PM PDT
 
Will the Left begin ordering people to see certain movies next? In THIS country, we still get to choose for ourselves what movies to see. Your insistence that I ought to see the movie because I simply ought to see it is ridiculous. The movie itself may be apolitical, but its director and stars are not. Try reading what I wrote before commenting next time.
Mick
August 23, 2006   11:12 PM PDT
 
Cav
It was hard to overcome the principle to not see Olivers movie, so I'm not trying to advise that you do. But my wife and I did go see it. I cried through the whole thing! It was good to feel the sting again. And to get a personal glimps at the courage and faith of the police, fire, and marines involved.

I would push anyone, but I wouldn't discourage it either. Being from Illinois, it did bring it a little closer to home for me.

Peace and Love,
Mick
JM
August 24, 2006   06:13 AM PDT
 
Mick, thanks for the comment. I'm sure it's an interesting movie, even though it doesn't deal with the cause of 9/11 -- the terrorists who attacked us -- at all. The fact that it showcases the courage of police and firefighters doesn't offset my reasons for not seeing it, though.

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