World Trade Center stands tall

By Peter Chattaway and ChristianWeek | September 1, 2006

Japanese planes attacked Pearl Harbor in December 1941. Lt. Col. Doolittle and his bomber pilots struck back at Japan in April 1942. A movie about their mission, called Thirty Seconds over Tokyo , was released in November 1944. By then, the U.S. had been at war for less than three years, and the conflict was still raging.

So in some ways, it is a little strange to hear some people ask if the world is ready for one movie, let alone two, about the terrorist attacks that took place on September 11, 2001—nearly five years ago. Others might ask what took so long. In either case, United 93 and WTC are timely reflections in the current "war on terror."

The story remains as relevant as ever. The day after Oliver Stone's World Trade Center opened in North American theatres on August 9, British authorities arrested two dozen men for allegedly conspiring to blow up as many as 10 planes in mid-flight across the Atlantic—a plot that could have killed even more people than the approximately 3,000 victims who died or went missing in the 9/11 attacks.

One reason for our cinematic reluctance may be that we are much more suspicious now of anything that reeks of propaganda. So the filmmakers who have finally tackled the events of that day—including Stone and Paul Greengrass, director of United 93—have had to follow the events of that day very, very closely.

In theory

In theory, at least, each filmmaker has picked one aspect of that day and researched it extensively and presented the facts more or less as they were, without inserting any sort of political commentary into the story. In theory, each movie lets the viewer draw his or her own conclusions about the broader significance of that day.

It has been especially fascinating to watch the discussion around World Trade Center, which concerns two Port Authority police officers who were trapped in the rubble of the falling towers and, amazingly, lived to tell the tale.

Brian Carney of the Wall Street Journal complained that Stone had left the villains—the terrorists—out of his movie, and thus drained it of political significance. Meanwhile, fellow conservative Kathryn Jean Lopez of the National Review praised the film for ignoring the hijackers and being "exclusively about the good guys."

Liberals are similarly divided. Stone himself has been rather critical of the direction that American foreign policy has taken since the 9/11 attacks. But some of the film's critics have chastised him for making a movie that seems to support that policy.

How people respond to the film will probably depend on how they respond to the character of David Karnes (Michael Shannon), a former marine who plays a key part in the rescue of John McLoughlin (Nicolas Cage) and Will Jimeno (Michael Peña).

Karnes quits his job in Connecticut and puts his fatigues back on after the towers are attacked—and he goes to New York because he believes God is calling him there. Later, he declares, "We're gonna need some good men out there to avenge this." A closing title card tells us that Karnes has since served two tours of duty in Iraq.

Some viewers have assumed that the film supports Karnes' politics, but I'm not so sure. The film subtly hints that current American war efforts may be driven by an apocalyptic evangelical sensibility that, for some, is just as problematic as the radical Muslim belief in jihad. Before going to New York, Karnes meets with his pastor, and the scene is set by a shot of a Bible opened to the first page of Revelation.

Be that as it may, World Trade Center is still remarkably forthright about the positive role faith did play in the experience of many people that day. It's there in the crucifixes that adorn the walls of private homes and hang from rescuers' necks; it's there in the Lord's Prayer that McLoughlin shouts in a moment of peril; and it's there in a startling vision that Jimeno has when he slips into unconsciousness.

United 93 is the better of the two films produced so far. It covers more territory, tells the story with greater realism, and boldly depicts the terrorists themselves. But World Trade Center sheds light on an important piece of the puzzle, too. Together they form a worthy memorial to those who died—and lived—on that awful day.