Truly Dreadful Film

Better Late Then Never

Blending excellent reporting and strong storytelling, this is a disturbing film truly stranger than fiction

I think this is a new genre that they're all sort of working their way through it and haven't got all the kinks worked out yet but it's a genre that works for me.

What might seem like a mere stunt, having eleven movie makers from around the world each film a nine-minute segment/story connected in some way to 9/11 has turned into a brilliant prism through which to see various views of this event. By turns horrific, sad, strange, even charming and funny, the finished product proves that the event inspired these filmmakers to come up with some of their best work. Films that present a common theme tackled by multiple directors can often be hit-or-miss, but this film of that genre is pretty much all hit. A diverse collection of short films, ranging from the overtly political, to the meditative, to the allegorical, to the simply personal. Mostly non-American directors and actors thoughtfully and sensitively render all of them. Collectively the film captures the importance of 9-11 as a tragedy for the entire world, not a single country. It often reflects on how the event entered the lives of ordinary people living ordinary lives in Africa, the Middle East, and Latin America. Other times it showed how the tragedy elicited sympathy for the US from people that were otherwise angry and bitter to the US for past injustices. I was surprised and delighted by the entire film. Made right after the attacks, they resemble moods ranging from fanciful to personal to abstract, accented both by the filmmakers' skill and approach and by their nationality, giving each an immediacy and an expansive perspective that may be eye-opening to Americans who see this watershed event only as a domestic phenomenon. I found it very interesting to see different world views and thoughts on this day of infamy. I think this film would be interesting viewing for any group of people. It's a great way to a get a conversation going about thoughts of what 9-11 means today and I think that it's a pretty interesting perspective on the artistic role this historic event will play. I would recommend this film to people who are interested in those kinds of conversations and to people who still like short films.

This document truly opened my eyes to what people outside of the United States thought about the September 11th attacks. This film was expertly put together and presents this disaster as more than an attack on U.S. soil. The aftermath of this disaster is previewed from many different countries and perspectives. I believe that this film should be more widely distributed for this point. It also helps in the the healing process to finally see something other than news reports on the terrorist attacks. And some of the pieces are actually funny, but not abusively so. This film came highly recommended to me, and I pass on the same feeling.

French production in which leading film directors from 11 countries were invited to create 11-minute short films conveying their reflections on the events of September 11.The film segments vary widely in content and quality. Two allude to U.S. complicity in terrorist acts (in Chile against Allende, who died on September 11, 1973, depicted in the segment by British director Ken Loach; and in Palestine by U.S.-backed Israelis, shown in the segment from Egyptian director Youssef Chahine). Two more recall other destructive acts (a Palestinian suicide bombing in Tel Aviv, shot by Israeli director Amos Gitan; the Japanese "holy war" against the west in WW II, by Shohei Imamura).Ironies abound in several stories. Shadows that darken the New York City apartment of a grieving old man suddenly disappear as the World Trade towers telescope to the ground in Sean Penn's piece, bringing the man momentary joy. But in this bright light he can finally see that his wife is really gone. In Mira Nair's film, based on a real incident, a missing young man, also in New York City, the son of a Pakistani family, is first presumed to be a fugitive terrorist, but later he proves to a hero who sacrificed himself trying to save others in the towers.There are poignant moments dotted throughout. Loach has his exiled Chilean man quote St. Augustine, to the effect that hope is built of anger and courage: anger at the way things are, courage to change them. Imamura tells us that there is no such thing as a holy war. Samira Makhmalbaf shows a teacher with her very young Afghan schoolchildren, exiled in Iran, trying to tell them about the events that have just transpired in New York. But they are understandably more impressed with a major event in their refugee camp, where two men have fallen into a deep well, one killed, the other sustaining a broken leg. This is comprehensible tragedy on a grand scale for the 6 year olds. Idrissa Ouedraogo, from Burkina Faso, creates a drama in which the son of an ailing woman spots Osama bin Laden in their village and gathers his buddies to help capture the fugitive terrorist, in order to get the $25 million U. S. reward. He tells his friends not to let any of the adults know their plans, for the older folks would merely waste the money on cars and cigarettes, while he plans to help his mother and others who are sick and destitute.It is Mexican director Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu (maker of "Amores Perros") who provides by far the most powerful and chilling segment, one that, for the most part, shows only a darkened screen with audio tape loops of chanting and voices and occasional thudding sounds. Brief visual flashes gradually permit us to see bodies falling from the high floors of the towers, and it dawns on us that the thuds are these bodies hitting the ground. The sequence ends with elegiac orchestral music and a still shot, bearing a phrase first shown only in Arabic, then with a translation added: "Does God's light guide us or blind us?" (In various languages with English subtitles) Grade: 8/10 (B+). (Seen on 10/31/04). If you'd like to read more of my reviews, send me a message for directions to my websites.

A patchwork about 911. The 11 stories from 11 directors from 11 countries are sometimes humoristic, sometimes boring (the first one, for example), sometimes used to say to Americans "we have had more deaths than you, and you supported the murderers", sometimes really weird (but highly symbolic and interesting). I really loved the Claude Lelouch (personal live of a couple in New-York, showing that our day-to-day "problems" are unimportant), Shoei Imamura (bizarre, strongly anti-wars in general), and Idrissa Ouedraogo (funny, typical African optimism despite terrible day to day misery), and Youssef Chahine (an Egyptian intellectual, pro-peace, having moral difficulties to accept the U.S. policy towards Arab countries) I am really pleased to see that many Americans liked this movie. It shows that we (or they ? I am still Belgian, but living in Texas for 12 years) are still interested by other cultures, and able to question past and present actions of our government, like we should in a democracy.