recommended

This is a must-see and one of the best documentaries - and films - of this year.

The thing I enjoyed most about the film is the fact that it doesn't shy away from being a super-sized-cliche;

The story, direction, characters, and writing/dialogue is akin to taking a tranquilizer shot to the neck, but everything else was so well done.

For me this is the best documentary about 9/11 until today. Other documentaries make analysis more cold and rational about the attacks, and has its great importance, of course, but this one is 100% immersive because it shows the point of view of those who felt the terror in the skin, without the need for any narrator in the background explaining the events. This is the strength of this documentary: the images and the reaction of the people speak for themselves. It gives the sensation of fear, confusion and perplexity that the people were feeling. Even if you're not a North American, even if you live in another country far this tragedy, when you watch this documentary, you have the full feeling that was there that day. A very impressive and impactful documentary.

I remember 9/11, in the UK I just finished college and was getting the bus when some people were saying they got text messages from other friends telling them someone attacked the twin towers. When i got home I found my younger brother glued to the TV telling me one of the towers were burning away, I saw it and I was in disbelief.In the same way this is how the documentary starts with a surprise on seeing the tower on fire, nobody knowing of yet how it hit at the time. That was at 8:46am people just got up to leave home, and on the other side of the Atlantic I was on my way back home.The style of the program is cameras from camermen on the ground as well as civilian footage, the reactions of anger, fear and more all seen and absorbed to this footage. Then you see the fires, the jumpers, the second crash, the fall of the tower, the dust, the second collapse and a final dust sweeping over new york.What was perhaps the greatest shock was seeing the full devastation the dust brought, covering all streets in dirty brown dust, water is dirty, windows smashed and an entire scenery which bears no resemblance to the New York we all know and love. To be there at time must had been terrifying, and no Hollywood film could replicate the fear the events brought as shown from eyes of ordinary people.This film serves just as much an educational purpose as it does retelling the events.

I was living in New York City, in Greenwich Village in fact, when 9/11 happened. From our neighborhood, we could see the smoke, and that horrible smell was all over the city. On the window of Ray's Pizza, people had put their "Missing" sheets. It would be a while before a lot of people knew what happened to their loved ones. Chaos reigned.This documentary takes video footage that various people shot and combines it. While the cameras were rolling, sometimes in people's apartments, in Times Square, out on the street near Ground Zero, you can hear comments. When the second plane hit, a young woman screams to her friend who's filming, "It's terrorists." Panic ensues. No one is safe. No one realizes the ramifications of even being in the area. They soon do, as the buildings collapse and a huge cloud chases the running crowds.America was completely unprepared for this tragedy. The shock, the horror, the initial reactions, the rumors that started, the anger, as well as what was happenings to the buildings, it's all documented here. Truly a no-miss.

There are over 100,000 stories concerning the people of New York who were in Manhattan on that fateful day. This documentary shows the footage that some of them shot that day on video cameras. With superb editing it concentrator's less on the news footage of the towers falling but more on the reactions and emotions of the people who were either living in Manhattan or working there. With all the footage available I daresay a dozen films could be made as good as this one but the film makers did make a good choice of footage to use. We see the reaction of people watching the news feed in Time Square, in the bars and on the TV. The sight of the ash cloud as the second tower went down looked like something after a nuclear war. As for my own insignificant story. I was in London working in my office on the 23rd floor watching it all happen on CNN. I looked out of the window on a brilliantly sunny day and could see all the way to the Alexandra Palace. I really felt vulnerable all of a sudden and after an emergency meeting with the Bank's Bosses we all went home.A powerful piece of film, a must-watch for everyone.