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9/11
Studio: Paramount
Year: 2002
Rated: NR
Film Length: 129 minutes
Aspect Ratio: Widescreen (1.78:1)
It's a very difficult decision to devote an entire
day to reviewing these new DVD titles that reflect
upon the events of September 11, 2001. I consider
this a prelude to the many images that Americans
will be revisiting as we approach the one year
anniversary of the attacks.
Some of you may not be interested in revisiting
the perpetual images that these DVDs provide.
For those of you that feel this way, I urge you
not to read any more of this review as the images
and stories are all here.
For others, these DVDs are very well done, presenting
an enormous amount of educational value to those
who are interested in watching them.
Nothing has ever been this real.
This year's most amazing documentary makes
it way to DVD courtesy of Paramount Home Video.
This is the story of the very first firefighters
who arrived in World Trace Center Tower #1 just
after the plane hit.
On September 11, 2001, french filmmakers (and
brothers) Jules and Gedeon Naudet had been filming
a documentary about a rookie firefighter (also
known as a "probie"), when events turned for
the worse. Though the brothers had never planned
for this to be a documentary about the events of
that tragic day, this recording is the definitive
record of what happened on 9/11, bringing all of
us as close to the reality as anyone could get.
As the documentary opens we see the footage that
Jules and Gedeon had been shooting for the past
few weeks leading up to 9/11. Their story was
about a fireman named Tony and his first few weeks
on the job as a probie -- cleaning dishes, mopping
the floor and scrubbing the fire truck back to its
bright red splendor. Tony longs for action, but
unfortunately has become a white cloud that brings
no fires. As we watch Tony train, we can see the
desire in him to become a real firefighter. We
even watch Tony open up his first meager check as
he exclaims, "If I wanted to be rich, I could have
become a lawyer but I wanted something to live with
for the rest of my life". Well said words, indeed!
Jules and Gedeon were getting just as disappointed
as Tony was. By the end of August they had no
exciting footage of fire fighting. Most of it was
of the firemen cooking meals every night. The
firemen warned them to be careful what you wish
for. They could never have been more accurate with
their words....
9/11
The morning started as routinely as ever. At
8:30am the company responded to a gas leak with
Jules and his camcorder in tow. As the group of
firemen stand over a street grid you can see the
two towers behind them. Suddenly there's the sound
of a loud roar above them as an airplane swoops
over their heads and into the Trade Center tower.
Right there and then they knew this would be the
worst day of their lives as a firefighter. As
everyone looked up, the world just stopped.
As they race towards 1 World Trade Center, Jules
is there with his camcorder taking footage as
the firemen enter the lobby. Their mission: get
up 80 stories to rescue people. To the firefighters,
this was only a routine fire that they would have
to put out. It would be a tough job, but they
would put it out! They knew nothing of
the events that were about to unfold.
The documentary dramatically tells the story of
events through the eyes of the men that were there.
The camcorder that Jules holds becomes the only
true eyewitness record of the events inside the
Tower 1 lobby all the way through the collapse of
the two towers.
Gedeon, meanwhile, remains at the firehouse with
Tony, who was off-duty when the alarm came in.
Gedeon decides to go after his brother. As he
takes his video camera in hand, we see the
remarkable chain of events that happen on the
streets of lower New York. There is complete
fear and panic on the streets covered with layers
of dust, almost looking as if a snowstorm had
blown threw.
9/11 is released as a commemorative
DVD Edition that contains 20 minutes of added
material in its documentary, and an additional
50 minutes of interviews with firefighters in
its supplements.
The one major gripe I have with this DVD is that
all the footage of Robert DeNiro is gone. Why
on earth was his participation in this presentation
removed?
As far as added material, I can only tell you
the things I noticed added (it has been nearly
7 months since the TV airing). There is a rather
graphic orientation slideshow for the new recruits
showing burn victims. These are rather disturbing
photos and I can understand why a network would
want them removed. Most of the additional material
involves the firemen who were separated from each
other during the attack.
How is the transfer?
The video footage is raw and often as good
as the conditions it was filmed under. Despite
that, most of the documentary comes across quite
vividly, but often slightly unfocused. Facial
tones tend to be more red -- but hey, this isn't
a theatrical presentation -- this is a videotaped
documentary.
The only problem with the transfer is Paramount's
choice to present this DVD in a Widescreen
(1.78:1) transfer. Not that I am complaining,
but this causes a bit of a problem with some of
the video shots giving a stretched ratio. Faces
in some of the crowd shots look wider than they
should be, and in one shot, the Empire State
Building looks like it gained some weight.
This ratio also cuts off a tiny bit of picture
information on the top and bottom resulting in
the bottom of added text being cut off.
The screenshots are the most accurate representation
I could give without distortion. The image actually
filled my anamorphic television as a 1.85:1 transfer
would.
The audio of the disc sounds very clean, crisp
and detailed. What I like about this unprocessed
sound is that when the streets of New York become
buried in soot and dust, the sound suddenly takes
on a very realistic numbing effect -- the same
kind of silence you would hear if you walked outside
your house after a snowfall.
Though this DVD does indicate closed captioning,
there are no subtitles available from the remote
menu.
Final Thoughts
This is as real and intense as life gets --
without the support of actors or staged events
to shock us, to make us cry, to make us angry.
This powerful visual document is a tribute to
the real-life heroes who showed courage, strength
and compassion during the city's darkest hours.
Purchasing this DVD is the best thing you can
do for yourself and the firefighters, as proceeds
from the sale of this DVD go to a scholarship
fund for firefighters.
Release Date: September 12, 2002
If I remember correctly, many critics loved the documentary and found DeNiro's non-prepared style to be disrespectful.
