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World Trade Center tells personal stories of first responders and families

World Trade Center tells personal stories of first responders and families
by Lorelei Quenzer - SGN A&E Writer World Trade Center Directed by Oliver Stone Starring Nicholas Cage, Michael Peña, Maria Bello, Maggie Gyllenhaal Playing now, various theaters The trailers have it right: the destruction of the World Trade Center is the episode that will forever anchor the lives of this generation. I clearly remember being glad that my 90-year-old grandfather had died three months earlier because September 11th would have broken his heart. So imagine my dismay when I heard that World Trade Center was being made by Oliver Stone. What plot was he going to see lurking behind the girders of the Twin Towers? My feelings are still too raw to deal with his particular brand of crazy. What a relief! This is possibly the least Stone-like movie I could imagine. There are no conspiracy theories, no frenetic cuts to the terrorists' point-of-view, or insertions of inappropriate political rants. Instead of exploiting the broad political landscape, WTC focuses on the lives of two Port Authority police officers, John McLoughlin (Nicholas Cage) and Will Jimeno (Michael Peña, Crash), who begin the morning of September 11th as normally as any other day. They are called to the World Trade Center after the first plane crash, and McLoughlin is asked to lead his squad because of his experience with the Center's 1993 car bomb. They are completely unprepared for what awaits them. As they get ready to ascend Tower One rumors are flying that something is happening in the second tower, but concrete information is sparse. Their world literally crumbles around them, and McLoughlin - who knows the buildings' structure all too well - leads a few men to the relative safety of a concourse elevator shaft. The film's major problems lie in Stone's attempt to create suspense: will McLoughlin and Jimeno be saved? Publicity for the film has already answered that question (yes), so it seems plain to mean to string the audience along. The extra twenty or so minutes could have been better spent with the other heroes of WTC: Donna McLoughlin (Maria Bello, A History of Violence) and Allison Jimeno (Maggie Gyllenhaal, Secretary, Mona Lisa Smile). While I sympathize with the officers' physical pain of being pinned inside an elevator shaft, I have real empathy for their wives, who spent the day in the dark about their husbands' situation. Because we already know what these people can't there's a lot of natural drama to be mined. Each clock on every wall leading to the 9:00 hour triggers an alarm in the mind of the audience. WTC captures the chaos of Ground Zero, where even the officers entering the building haven't been told that the second tower has been struck; desk sergeants in precincts and hospital staff are hard pressed to confirm the whereabouts of personnel and survivors. Stone also doubly aware of the audience when he shows the anxiety of a country hungering for information: when Allison needs to escape her claustrophobic house she finds herself in the middle of a street illuminated by the flickering lights of her neighbors' television sets. The acting is superb. Cage disappears behind his moustache to become McLoughlin, and he and Peña spend most of the movie spitting dust and grit. Humor unexpectedly mixes with poignancy as the two men talk about their families and lives as they struggle to survive. Bello, who failed to get an Oscar nomination for her standout performance in A History of Violence, can't be passed over this year. And while Gyllenhaal's pregnancy prosthetic doesn't quite look real, her pain does. The wives' emotional turmoil is the soul of WTC, and it's ultimately what makes it work. Just because Stone left the conspiracy theories behind doesn't mean that WTC isn't surrounded by controversy. A lot of people are upset that it was made so soon. Others feel that the title is misleading; an attention-grabbing ploy, since the movie isn't a straight-forward retelling of the events à la United 93. They feel it comes very short of the mark. So maybe this isn't a film for New Yorkers, or for those with close connections to Ground Zero. I can only say that I found it to be respectful of the families of first responders without being overly sentimental or maudlin. If you can bring yourself to the theater I recommend you bring along a huge wad of tissue.