|
SEPTEMBER 11 Send This Review to a Friend
At the Toronto International Film Festival 2003 there was a spirit of remembrance for those who perished in the Trade Towers and Pentagon assault on September 11th of 2001, and one of the highlights was a film called "11'09"01", now being commercially released as "September 11." It consists of works by 11 filmmakers, each with a particular perspective related to the attack. The formula called for each film to be 11 minutes, nine seconds and one frame in keeping with the date.
The result, as might be expected from such a collection, was mixed. My favorite section was Samira Makhmalbaf's film depicting a teacher trying to explain about the attack to a group of schoolchildren who can't grasp what she's trying to tell them and whose minds are far from such a concern. Sean Penn contributed a film about a widower living in the Trade Towers area, with Ernest Borgnine cast in the role, but that short seemed more pretentious than effective.
Other participating directors included Ken Loach, Claude Lelouch, Danis Tanović, Amos Gitaї, Shohei Imamura, Youssef Chahine, Idrissa Ouedraogo, Mira Nair and Alejandro González Inárritu. There have been complaints that some of the material was anti-American, but when I spoke to co-producer Jacques Perrin, he denied any such intent and insisted that there was merely an effort to present various viewpoints.
The film's importance lies in the effort itself, the desire to explore reactions to the event that triggered myriad responses. It is especially interesting in light of all that has happened to relations between the United States and countries abroad as a result of the Iraq invasion and talk about how America is perceived around the world.
|