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August 23, 2006

Oliver Stone and September 11

By Paul McNellis

It's been said that what makes the British such good travelers is that they expect so little when they travel. Whether this is true of the British, I don't know, but it sums up well my own relation with the American entertainment industry. Because I expect so little from Hollywood, I'm rarely disappointed when I go to the movies. Over the years I've developed three helpful rules: 1) Don't go to the movies too often, 2) Choose your movie based on the director, and 3) Avoid all Oliver Stone movies.

But I recently broke my third rule. Since Mr. Stone's film "World Trade Center" is only the second Hollywood attempt in five years to address September 11, I felt obligated to see it, if for no other reason than to be aware of what my students will have seen when they return next week. I was prepared to be thoroughly disappointed. At least as far as this movie is concerned, I was wrong about Mr. Stone. He has produced a restrained, respectful, apolitical film that is well worth seeing.

The critics have been generally respectful, though some on both the left and the right disagree with its apolitical approach. They accuse Mr. Stone of failing to put September 11 in "the proper context," by which they mean he should take a stand on Iraq--show us either why we shouldn't be there, or why we need to win. But my question to such critics is: Since when have we expected moral or political guidance from Hollywood? That's what friends, family, and colleagues are for. Besides, since we already know where Mr. Stone stands on this, we don't need a cinematic illustration.

In a way, Mr. Stone's movie isn't really about September 11. Rather, he uses the extraordinary events of that day to narrate the story of two ordinary Port Authority policemen, Sergeant John McLoughlin and Patrolman Wil Jimeno, and through their story Stone shows us something universal about all of us--or, one would hope, true of most of us, most of the time.

For one thing, the duties of the present and the pain of the past pushes us toward forgetfulness. We're busy. We're tired. We move on. We remember what is useful or seems necessary, which doesn't always coincide with what's really important. In watching Mr. Stone's film I realized how much I had forgotten about that day: What a beautiful day it was; that only 20 men were pulled alive from the rubble; the stunned, open-wound look on the faces of my students; the feeling of shared grief and unity with my fellow citizens. It all came flooding back. It was all worth remembering.

This film is not flawless. There are things that don't work, but they are more than offset by the many short scenes that achieve perfect pitch. Stone's attention to detail has a telling, cumulative effect. Take, for example, the opening scene. Sgt. McLoughlin's day begins at 3:30 am, but he turns off the alarm at 3:29, so as not to wake his wife. It's a considerate act that reveals the man. But his wife is awake, though she doesn't let him know--to avoid saying good-bye, perhaps? All is not well. This scene, like so many others, is part of a carefully crafted whole.

This movie is also a surprise, and thoroughly un-Hollywood, in the way it presents men. There are no men cheating on their wives or acting like bumbling fools before their uncomprehending adolescent children. Instead, we see men trying to be good husbands, good fathers, and good policemen. A series of scenes that cut between McLoughlin and Jimeno buried in the rubble, and their families waiting for word of their fate, show us people, who in the midst of their grief, remember that it's not just about them: The pregnant mother who is reminded that her baby is going through this too; the mother worrying about how she will tell her daughter that her father might not be coming home; the son accusing his mother of not caring about his father because she won't immediately drive to the World Trade Center. And yet she is wise and loving enough to know her son doesn't really mean it.

We see people putting others first, on this, the worst day of their lives because they've been doing it every day of their lives. And if you spend your life as a husband and father putting those you love first, then when the crucial day comes chances are that as a policeman you'll put the people in the North Tower first as well. In a pivotal scene, beautifully done, Sgt. McLoughlin says, "We're going to evacuate the North Tower....Who's coming? Step forward." And after an uncomfortably long pause, Jimeno says, "I got it Sarg."

That one scene speaks volumes about the true nature of courage. Courage is not the absence of fear. Anyone present at ground zero that day would have been a fool not to feel fear. We see that these men are afraid, but they overcome it. And fear isn't overcome without leaders. Sgt. McLoughlin asks for volunteers; the others can say yes or no. Jimeno is the first to say yes, and then others follow his example.

Courage as a virtue is increasingly misunderstood in our society, especially among the keyboard class. As our lives become more comfortable and protected, we forget who does the protecting. A better understanding of this might bring solace to those family members whose lost loved ones are not explicitly mentioned in this film.

McLoughlin and Jimeno are courageous not because they survive under the rubble. They are trapped. They don't want to be there. One of them even wonders if the whole day was pointless: they saved no one. But it was their courage that put them there, back when they still had a choice. For the many who didn't survive, their "yes," their "I got it, Sarg," began when they became one of those who protect the rest of us.

By choosing a narrow focus, Mr. Stone has done well something Hollywood almost never does. He's given us a glimpse, a reminder, of people like those we all know, people living good lives by doing the little things day after day that good people do: Loving your spouse, trying to be a good parent, doing your duty. We are surrounded by such people but tend to take them for granted. Often, they're no further away from us than the next room.

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