The 9/11 terrorist attacks 25 years ago marked one of the darkest days in American history. And like so much of American history, many tried to reckon with the loss, grief and anger of the time through art.
For those who weren’t around then, it’s difficult to encapsulate the feeling of immense sadness that enveloped the country. A shadow loomed large for months, and in the immediate aftermath, we unsurprisingly turned to late night shows like “Saturday Night Live” and “The Daily Show With Jon Stewart” to start to usher in some semblance of entertainment normalcy, albeit with the still shaky sense that we weren’t quite sure how to operate like before. Indeed, there was no going back. The world was forever changed.
There have been several films made about that time – some about the attacks themselves, some about the feelings we shared, and some about the United States’ military response. These are some of the best.
“United 93”
Perhaps the most visceral film made about 9/11, Paul Greengrass’ “United 93” came out in 2006, just a few years after the attacks. The film chronicles how the passengers of United Flight 93 learned of the World Trade Center attacks and stormed the cockpit of their plane, successfully thwarting the hijackers’ plans to head towards the White House. It was ultimately an act of immense bravery and sacrifice, as all aboard perished in a crash in a Pennsylvania field. Greengrass’ film takes a docudrama approach to the events, casting unknown actors and even the real-life air traffic controllers who were there that morning, bringing a visceral approach to the filmmaking that makes it all feel harrowingly real.
“World Trade Center”
Also released in 2006 was Oliver Stone’s “World Trade Center,” a more straightforward narrative film that dramatizes the Port Authority Police Officers’ response to the 9/11 terror attacks. Nicolas Cage plays Sgt. John McLoughlin, who, alongside Office Will Jimeno (Michael Pena), was trapped under the rubble in the immediate aftermath of the attacks and later rescued. Stone involved the real-life figures and their wives in the making of the film to ensure utmost accuracy.
“Zero Dark Thirty”
The most prominent film about the response to the 9/11 terror attacks, “Zero Dark Thirty” was shrouded in secrecy ahead of its release in 2012. It marked director Kathryn Bigelow and writer Mark Boal’s next film after winning Oscars for “The Hurt Locker,” as they sought to tell the real inside story of the hunt for Osama Bin Laden, and the raid that ultimately killed him. While the movie came under scrutiny for depicting methods of torture used to secure the information that led to Bin Laden, it remains a fascinating and thrilling account of this particularly fraught period of time. Jessica Chastain stars as Maya, a fictionalized version of the real-life CIA analyst who dedicated her life to finding Bin Laden.
“Worth”
Perhaps one of the most underseen 9/11 movies, the 2020 film “Worth” is based on the memoir by lawyer Kenneth Feinberg and chronicles the handling of the September 11th Victim Compensation Fund, which found lawyers literally calculating how much money each victim’s life was worth. Feinberg was tasked with drawing up a compensation plan that would convince at least 80% of the victims’ family members to sign on. As one can imagine, the process was emotionally fraught.
“25th Hour”
Now we get to the movies that deal with our national mood in the wake of 9/11, and nothing captures that better than Spike Lee’s “25th Hour.” Considered by many to be the best 9/11 movie ever made, the story follows a man (Edward Norton) as he enjoys his last 24 hours of freedom in New York City before being sent to prison. Lee integrated the 9/11 attacks into the tone of the film, which finds Norton’s character and those he encounters reckoning with a collective grief over what the city has lost, and how to move forward. Philip Seymour Hoffman has a brilliant monologue midway through the film, and leave it to Lee to perfectly capture how New Yorkers felt in the aftermath of 9/11.
“War of the Worlds”
Steven Spielberg uses his films to express how he feels about the world, and his 2005 sci-fi remake “War of the Worlds” is far more than just an alien invasion movie. It is explicitly a story about how Americans react to a shocking attack on our safety and livelihood. The film is told entirely from the point of view of a single father spending the weekend with his kids, played by Tom Cruise. By fixing the POV, Spielberg gets to tell a visceral story about this alien invasion that focuses on the here and now – what does he do in the immediate wake of the attacks, and what will he do to keep his kids safe? The film even gets into the fraught Iraq War, chronicling the finger-pointing and infighting that ensued as the Bush Administration took extraordinary measures abroad after the attacks.
“Children of Men”
Another film that’s not explicitly about 9/11, but carries with it significant undertones, is Alfonso Cuarón’s masterpiece “Children of Men.” It’s no coincidence that the 2006 dystopian sci-fi film opens with a terrorist attack in London, as it then charts a world in which two decades of infertility have caused a civilization collapse. Clive Owen plays a man tasked with smuggling a miraculously pregnant woman to safety, but through it all, he encounters the horrors that men have inflicted upon fellow men in the upended society. It’s a stark look at the chaos that reigns down when civilians no longer feel a sense of control in the world around them.
