Director:
Jules Naudet, Gedeon Naudet, and James Hanlon
Feature
length: 129 minutes
Extras:
Bonus Interviews
Languages:
English Dolby Surround 2.0
Subtitles:
English Closed Captions
Packaging:
Amaray Keep Case
Chapter
Stops: 17
Sound:
Dolby Pro Logic Surround Sound
Year
of DVD Release: 2002
Home
Video Distributor: Paramount Home Entertainment
MPAA
Rating: Not Rated
Reviewer:
Mark A. Rivera
Filmmakers
Gedeon and Jules Naudet had set out to videotape a documentary following the
journey of a young firefighter through this training at the academy, his
assigning to Engine 7, Ladder 1 in Lower Manhattan, and his subsequent bonding,
tests and trials as a new Fireman. They videotaped a lot of footage of the fire
company teasing their young hero to be and followed him along every day from one
duty to another, but this guy was what the Firemen at Engine 7, Ladder 1 called
a “White Cloud.” According to this labeling, a guy who starts and
continuously ends up assisting on many fires from the very beginning is called a
“Black Cloud” as in fire smoke and a guy who starts and things are unusually
quiet for weeks and so on is a “White Cloud” because there are no fires.
Then
on what appeared to be routine morning call downtown, the brothers split up with
one recording their subject at Engine 7, Ladder 1 while the other accompanied
the Fire Chief inside the Chief’s car. While on the street there was a roar
overhead and Jules pointed his camera above toward the sky to record the only
known videotaped footage of the first plane striking the World Trade Center on
September 11, 2001.
Following
the Chief into the lobby of the flaming tower, Jules Naudet witnessed the chaos
of people screaming and on fire, which he did not tape because in his own words
“No one should ever have to see this.” Furthermore he witnessed the
developing situation with the various fire companies from all over the city and
surrounding areas rushing in and literally climbing up what might as well be
endless flights of stairs since the elevators were unusable because of the jet
fuel that had poured in. The chaos grows as we see first hand from within the
lobby one elevator open up that had got caught and somehow made it’s way back
to the lobby without the occupants aware of what had happened. Suddenly there
were large and harsh crashing noises and the area outside the lobby became
unsafe as to the horror of everyone they began to hear the impact of people who
had jumped to their death rather than face the inferno high above.
Soon
everything goes black as the second tower, which had been struck by another
plane after the first collapsed. The light on the video camera actually served
like a flashlight for the occupants within the lobby to locate the others, some
of who did not survive and were only taped on camera minutes before. As the crew
search for a safe exit and order the evacuation of all Firemen in the building,
the reality that the radios were practically shot and there would be no way to
save everyone creeps in.
Meanwhile
Gedeon had been with the rookie up until they ordered him to get down to the
site and then lost him in the crowd, but videotaped the chaos on the streets of
New York, as the unthinkable became a reality. Surprisingly given the odds and
high loss of life everyone including the rookie Fireman of Engine 7, Ladder 1
and the two-filmmaking brothers survived to provide a historic document of this
tragedy live as it had happened on around them.
Paramount
Home Entertainment is releasing “9/11: The Filmmakers’ Commemorative
Edition” on Tuesday, September 10, 2002 with a portion of the proceeds from
the sale being donated to the Uniformed Firefighters Association Scholarship
Fund. The documentary, which had been broadcast on television earlier this year,
features four bonus videotaped interviews that adds nearly an hour of bonus
commentary from the Firemen who witnessed one of the darkest days of American
History. The video quality is surprisingly clear and presented in a (1.78:1) letterboxed
aspect ratio with English Dolby Pro Logic Stereo Surround
Sound and English Closed Captions for the hearing impaired.
©
Copyright 2002 By Mark A. Rivera
All Rights Reserved.