"9/11" -- CBS -- March 10 (1 Viewer)

[Peter Kline]

03/11/2002*-*Updated*08:45 AM*ET

Firefighters call '9/11' video accurate, tasteful

NEW YORK (AP) — Firefighters who watched a nationally broadcast documentary of their Sept. 11 World Trade Center rescue effort said it was an accurate, sensitive account of the day in which 343 of their colleagues died.

Firefighters gathered at firehouses and homes, with friends and family, to watch 9/11, which aired on CBS Sunday night. Hosted by Robert De Niro, the program presented video footage shot by two French filmmakers who were working on a documentary about a firehouse a few blocks from the twin towers.

Some relatives of Sept. 11 victims had urged CBS not to air the program out of concern that the memory of the attacks was too fresh.

"It's history, and history's got to be documented, and it's got to be shown to the world," said retired firefighter John Vigiano, who lost both his sons in the terrorist attack.

The filmmakers, brothers Jules and Gedeon Naudet, were with members of the firehouse when they saw a jetliner crash into one of the towers Sept. 11.

The footage contains graphic language and the sounds of bodies — people who jumped from the 110-story towers — hitting the ground.

"This is a broadcast about strength and courage as well as remembering the pain," CBS executive producer Susan Zirinsky said. "I think the timing is right."

The documentary shows fire officials setting up a command post in the north tower lobby, shot by Jules Naudet. Simultaneous footage shot by Gedeon Naudet shows the action from the streets of lower Manhattan. Firefighters in the north tower are seen running for safety after the collapse of the south tower.

Firefighter John Morabito was about 200 feet from Jules Naudet in the north tower.

"It definitely captures a true feeling of what it was like in the building," he said. "You had a sense of terror. You had a sense of panic. You had a sense of urgency. Just multiply that by 100."

Firefighter Jeff Coniglio rushed up the stairs of the north tower Sept. 11. He made it to the 31st floor before the south tower fell and he was ordered to evacuate.

"I was there. I lived it," he said. "I thought (the documentary) was very responsibly and tastefully done, and it was truly, truly sad to watch it. It was reliving the whole day, moment for moment."

Firefighter Tom Dunn said the video captured the confusion of Sept. 11 among firefighters with little information about what was happening around them.

"They did a really super job of turning it into a story that is pretty right on," said Dunn, whose company lost two men. "The rest of the world knew. Everyone that was home and watching CNN had more information than we did. There was a lot of confusion there and that added to the stress of not knowing what to do."

Firefighter Michael Crowell, who cried as he watched the show at his home, said the documentary reminded him of the guilt he has felt since surviving the collapse of the twin towers.

"These guys died doing something that we all wanted to do," he said. "Courage is when you're afraid but you do it anyway, and that's what these guys depicted — faces of courage, but ready to go. They looked unsure, but I don't think there was a fearful face on any of them."

Vigiano said while he watched the show he was looking for any sign of his son Joe Vigiano, a police officer last seen in the north tower.

"I taped it, and I'll run it back and forth until I can be sure," he said.

 

[Andres Munoz]

It left me with a few questions. For example, how did all of the men from the featured firehouse make it out alive? Was it because they were all in the north tower? They were the first firemen at the scene, and I thought they would be the ones who had climbed the highest.

They all made it because they climbed tower 1 and it was tower 2 the one that collapsed first. As soon as that happened, they all got the MAYDAY to evacuate tower 1 and luckily enough for them, they made it out of the building just in time before it collapsed as well.

 

[Jeff Savage]

I was not sure that I wanted to watch this documentary last night. After some debate I ended up watching it. I am glad I did.

I was unsure about how I would feel and like many others I ended up crying during the presentation. However I think that it was a good cry, a final release if you will. There was not nearly as much rage and anger this time (although it was still there). Perhaps knowing what the people and the Government of our country have done in the past six months has softened the blow somewhat.

My Dad is a fireman in the small town in VT where I grew up. He always has his fire gear in the car with him. There were times when I was in the car with him and the scanner would go off and we would rush to the fire. Although I was careful never to get in the way I learned how firemen react to situations. Looking at the video and the looks on those men's faces I could tell it was bad. It was very scary for me to see those types of looks on firemen.

Overall I thought that it was an excellent piece and a needed part if the nations healing process. So often we see disasters like this on TV and are not affected by them. Someone on the film said something like "this really happened right? It is not a movie set right?" A film like this reminds us that yes this really did happen and real people were affected by it.

 

[Butch C]

This was the first TV presentation that gave me someting I hadnt alreaddy seen personally...the lobby during collapse

I had the great misfortune of witnessing the fire and collapse with my own two eyes. I could not close my eyes for longer than a blink without seeing the collapse for two months.

I had the great honor to go to ground zero the next day with a delegatrion from my job and see the incredible dedication of the rescue workers and the HORRIFIC, UNEXPLAINABLE destruction.

That was a wonderful documentry because it caught the heroism of the firefighters and also had the human interest story of the two brothers searching for each other.

 

[Brian Sanger]

I apologize for having to have the administrator remove some of my original post due to its political content. I did not mean to offend anyone that read it before its removal. Please accept my apologies.

 

[Bill Moore]

My cousin is a rookie fireman in NY, and on 9/11 - and well into 9/12 - we had no word of him, and feared he was dead. We could only imagine what he was going through, based on the news reports and other interviews.
Last night we got a chance to see a bit of exactly what he went through... his name is Tony Benetatos.
The CBS documentary was not just history for me - but a connection to family. I'm glad it was done, and I salute the two filmakers who kept their cool in the midst of a hellish nightmare.
RE: language - I don't expect Gramma Moore will be too impressed with her grandson's colorful vocabulary...
B

 

[Micheal]

Does anyone know exactly where the two french filmamkers are from?

Thanks,

Mike

Brian, don't worry about it. I just mentioned that I was worried that the thread might get political after your comments and the admins cleaned it up. I know that it was not your intention to sway the thread into a political debate.

Thanks for understanding.

 

[Jay H]

CBS Morning show link
Michael, the above link says the two moved to NYC from Paris, France, in 1989. The article says they graduated from NYU film school in 1995.
Jay

 

[Micheal]

Thanks Jay!

 

[Brian-W]

Side notes....

The 9-11 events also highlighted (my opinion) the logistics of fire fighting in skyscrapers. I sometimes wonder that if fire fighters could have begun dousing the fires with water if that wouldn't have cooled the interior a little bit to slow or stop the steel from melting. I doubt it, but can't help but wonder.

Also, the cameras used to capture everything, what I found amazing was how much audio "bass" was captured when the buildings began collapsing. This was the first time I could really feel like "I was there" even though I wasn't. I found that sound pretty frightening.

-Brian

 

[Cal S]

Does anyone know if this will be rerun soon?

 

[VicRuiz]

They probably did. What saved their lives was precisely the fact that they were first on the scene and Tower 2 hadn't been hit yet when they got there. All of them then went into Tower 1, which stood for 102 minutes (8:46 - 10:28). Tower 2 lasted only 56 minutes after it was hit (9:03 - 9:59). The 29 minutes between the collapses gave them a chance to get out.

 

[James Edward]

Count me in as another that was there, and chose not to watch the show. I saw the first minute, because my wife was viewing it, but it brought that day back too intensely.

I was 2 or 3 blocks away at Chase Manhattan Plaza, on the 60th floor when the planes hit. The building rocked, and papers, insulation, etc. was flying through the air.

We had a 'good' view of the WTC, and saw the floors on fire, the cars down below in flames, but at first thought it was an accident. As soon as the 2nd plane hit, I knew this was no accident, and ran for the elevator, very scared, as we were in a 60 floor building, and who knew what else was coming? The elevator stopped on every floor, because everyone was trying to get out. It was the longest elevator ride of my life.

My cell phone did not work, along with most others, and I waited on a line for about 30 minutes to call my wife. Bad move. I was a little too close when the building came down, and was one of those people you see running in all the news footage. I thought another plane hit or a bomb went off, the sound was that loud and percussive.

To top it all off, I spent the night in lower Manhattan with someone whose husband was an EMT for a NYC hospital and was missing at WTC. He called her at 8:50 and said he was heading over in his ambulance to the WTC. His body was finally recovered on December 24th.

I can do without the show. But I guess I'm glad that others were able to see the awful mayhem at arm's length.

 

[David Paymer]

Memories of that day are still too fresh for me (lost two friends) so I couldn't watch it but I taped it. Maybe in a few months I'll take a look at it. I'm glad to hear it was done tastefully.

 

[Dana Fillhart]

I took some photos of the WTC "Towers of Light" from downtown Jersey City along the Hudson River on Tuesday night; I've posted them in this thread.

 

[Seth Paxton]

Bill, that's cool, and funny too regarding the language.
It really is a small world some times.

 

[Dave Mack]

Hey Everyone,
I had jury duty and was standing on chambers st. in NYC that day and was about 4 to 5 blocks away when the 2nd plane hit. I was then a few blocks north when the buildings fell. I saw this. I saw with my own eyes whatmost people were seeing on tv. People on the street were just grabbing each other and were terrified. We thought it was the end. I felt like I was in the middle of a "Die Hard" film but unfortunately, Bruce Willis was Not going to rush in and save the day.
It had been hard trying to relay what I saw and how I felt on that day and it seems that people who weren't there had no idea what it was actually like, some wanting to forget it, ignore it or even berating me for dwelling upon it. 1 "friend" actually said, "Get over it!" to which I replied, "F You!"
The people I know who were downtown and actually saw and lived through this, like me, do NOT want to DWELL on it, some of us have little choice and have had nightmares, panic attacks and worse. Some have quit their jobs, some have LOST their jobs, (I did) and some have left NYC.
9/11 was the the 1st thing I have seen since that day that gives a true feeling of what it was like.
Was painful seeing that day again, but hopefully helpful.
Now everyone knows what The people who were witnesses and the blessed souls who died felt.
Peace All!!!! Dave

 

[Ning Wong]

I watched this special...It was awesome.

I'm on the other side of the coast, and the special really did let me see the horror of 9/11.

On 9/11, i was on a week long alaskan cruise. I woke up and turned on the TV on the ship. I just saw the twin towers on fire. I thought that it was some movie scene. However, when Peter Jennings came on the screen, i knew it was for real.

The entire day, I talked to dfiferent people on the cruise about this event -- it was all we could talk about.

I heard so many crazy stories from different people -- one of the guys worked in the towers, but he decided to take 2 weeks off for the cruise. He was wracked w/guilt because of his incredible stroke of good fortune. Another guy was telling us about his son - how his son worked in the towers. He went to work, but then he forgot his wallet, so he left work to go home and get it. Then the attacks happened.

It was so crazy to hear these stories.

I watched the special all choked up, w/my heart racing, and my anger building -- what kind of monsters could do such a thing??

Anyway....

I didn't get a chance to tape this. If someone has a good copy of this (in SP), i would appreciate a copy of it. I want to have this special on tape so I can keep a part of history to show my children.