World Trade Center begins on the morning of September 11, 2001. New York
Policeman John McLoughlin (Cage) gets out of bed, where wife Donna (Bello)
sleeps. He looks on at his children sleeping in another room. He goes to
work. Family ties are threaded strongly into the narrative.
When I first heard about the 9/11 disaster, I was cheerfully enjoying
everyday life. And that’s how this movie starts: life is normal, and
it’s uncannily accurate.
News of the towers left an indelible impression on me because from one
state of life many people, including those overseas, entered another
phase. It was a huge, world-changing event which the movie makes plain,
inserting news footage from around the world of the falling towers.
The movie certainly knows its own importance. Tracing the survival of
two policemen (including Cage’s character) buried underneath rubble
during an after shock while attempting to rescue people in the carnage,
World Trade Center, which claims to be based on eye-witness accounts, is
overdone and overblown, sentimentalising the story.
Families are seen breaking down, policemen being frank with one another
while near death, remembering a movie line to get the other cop (Pena)
through.
An off-screen President Bush is heard delivering a down to earth but
non-defeatist line over the television news. Tragedy and never giving
up: Americans always see a sliver lining.
It’s certainly not about heroism but about vulnerability and strength
and not about politics and Islam but family connections and faith in
God, which makes it suitable for families with older children.
Although there is a small amount of profanity, this is understandable
all the same considering the time. But even the swearing comes across
unnatural, like the movie itself.
The movie is sometimes moving and involving. What seems gritty, though,
is only on the surface. This is a soap opera with clichés which doesn’t
sit naturally. To have made it appear real and potent could have made it
more powerful.
A dull trod at times. Better drama is seeing it unfold through real-life
documentaries and news footage.
