September 11 (First Run)

 

Picture: C+     Sound: B-     Extras: C-     Shorts/Film: C+

 

 

How about a feature film that tries to offer insight (however contradictory) into the events and results of the 9/11 attacks?  September 11 (2002) is such a work and it is uneven at best, but also reflect the confusion of what the event really means and how it is both interpreted and misinterpreted.  Eleven directors worldwide offer the following:

 

Samira Makhmalbaf (Iran) has children talking and interacting for most of the time, then watching smoke come out of a smokestack in wonderment as some kind of metaphor.  Is it the Tower of Babel?  Either way, it is interesting, but too ambiguous to add up, unless it is a condescending criticism of the U.S., U.N, and/or world at large.  If it is children as future terrorists, these are toddlers.  Poor.

 

Claude Lelouch (France) offers characters talking in sign language with a player piano between the two people signing, then the morning of the event arrives.  The woman stays behind as her boyfriend leaves and the we see the planes hit the towers as she writes next to the set on her PC and does not see (and specifically hear) the events.  The conclusion has to do with the events (and history) indirectly affecting them hundreds of miles away.  Not perfect, it is not bad either.

 

Youssef Chahine (Egypt) actually takes place in NYC under the towers as a filmmaker is trying to shoot a scene below them, then talks to a solider near the river.  After crossing a volleyball game, the short turns to criticizing U.S. policy in a way that says the country has killed people too and should not be so shocked by 9/11.  Duh?  Unfortunately, that shows a lack of grasp about what happened and misses the point, as if this were a normal attack.  Beating around the bush then bashing the U.S. does not make it more artistic than bashing the U.S., with a lame, immature and poor piece resulting.

 

Danis Tanovic (Bosnia-Govina) starts with a woman waking up to a fancy analog clock, then the news comes in and the women of the area go into shock.  It seems to be a film of either protest or support, but of what, and is definitely too short, though one of affect.

 

Idrissa Quedraogo (Burkina - Faso) takes place in an African village that gets the news a little latter than the rest of the world and how a teenager and those around him react.  Then he thinks Bin Laden is visiting!  One of the more interesting pieces here.

 

Ken Loach (UK) starts with a montage of past conflict and pain for people suffering thanks to Henry Kissinger and bad U.S. policy in Latin America.  Then we forward to George W. Bush giving a speech and the intellectual montage spells out the point in one of the strongest pieces here.

 

Alejandro Gonzales Inarritu (Mexico) is mostly pitch black with audio, then flash images of how ugly the planes hitting is, including censored materials usually not shown because of the carnage.  Clever and when it could have been pretentious, the Babel director pulls it off.

 

Amos Gitai (Israel) starts with an emergency disaster in his home country, making distinct parallels with the title date in the U.S. and doing so by getting to the point.

 

Mira Nair (India) is “based on a true story” as Nair once again delivers another woman’s story, this time as a Muslim lady of principle wants to deal with how ugly she feels 9/11 is.  She comes to America to speak her mind.  Too bad the slanted media did not listen.

 

Sean Penn (USA) has Ernest Borgnine as a frustrated old man who is angry and dealing with loneliness in what is somewhat of a monologue piece, then 9/11 happens and the piece concludes.

 

Shohel Imamura (Japan) starts with a Japanese soldier crawling on the ground for water as others comment, who eventually bites others and eats rodents.  It does not seem like coincidence that the country that received the first nuclear bombing ever and from the U.S. (who invented the bomb) gets the last word in what has become dangerous revisionist history about Japanese Imperialism, their deadly active participation as part of the WWII Axis of Evil and lying about the past in ways that are not being challenged enough.  Fortunately, Islamic or Imperialist, the film denounces the idea of a “Holy War” and the film concludes.

 

 

The anamorphically enhanced 1.78 X 1 image offers various picture quality, but they are decent and often feature degraded analog video images of the event.  The Dolby Digital 5.1 mix shows the directors usually using al the channels more often than not, but expect inconsistencies as you would in any anthology or shots set.  Extras include weblinks, text bios and trailers for other Empire DVD releases.

 

 

-   Nicholas Sheffo