World Trade Center - 7

This is Oliver Stone's attempt at capturing the zeitgeist of 9/11 five years later. He does a good job of showing how shocking the events of the day were for most Americans. The true story limits itself to the lives of two police officers who got trapped in one of the towers after its collapse, and their families who are waiting to here about them. The film also has a vignette about a former Marine who decides something must be done and volunteer's to go to the wreckage looking for any survivors. The script is based on accounts of 9/11, so each character is shown in light of their own experience (a good example of this is when Will Jimeno (Michael Pena), who sees a vision of Jesus offering him water, while he is buried). The film is technically excellent as well, transitioning between locations using flashbacks involving the two separated people. The film focuses on family and the importance of relationships in our lives that keep us going. On a lower level the film engages questions of individualism and community that became paramount to the discussions following 9/11. Much like United 93, a good film for reflection and discussion about human mortality and meaning in the 21st century (9/11 is going to be the lens through which we see the rest of this century).