# So, two movies about 9/11 coming out this year... **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [March 24, 2006, 6:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-two-movies-about-9-11-coming-out-this-year/349757 "2006-03-24T18:44:28Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Silentgoldfish](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e36b37/32.png) [@Silentgoldfish](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Silentgoldfish)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2006, 6:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-two-movies-about-9-11-coming-out-this-year/349757/1 "2006-03-24T18:44:28Z")
[Flight 93](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0475276/) and [World Trade Center](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0469641/). I can’t help but feel that these are going to be very pointless movies. Not only are they chronicling events that only happened 5 years ago, there was enough news/amature footage that any special effects will probably pale in comparison, or seem tackily overwraught. Not to mention that the volume of real life information both audio, visual and text about 9/11 makes fictionalised accounts reduntant, IMO. Does anyone think these movies are good ideas? ---
**Author:** ![Kizarvexius](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/da6949/32.png) [@Kizarvexius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kizarvexius)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2006, 7:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-two-movies-about-9-11-coming-out-this-year/349757/2 "2006-03-24T19:42:26Z")
Not me. Reliving the most horrifying day of my 35 years – on the big screen, in technicolor, with digital surround sound – well, let’s just say it’s something I’d probably sit though only at gunpoint. Besides, I’m still shellshocked from seeing _Munich_, and I’m too young to remember when all of _that_ happened. ---
**Author:** ![smiling\_bandit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e9a140/32.png) [@smiling\_bandit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/smiling_bandit)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2006, 7:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-two-movies-about-9-11-coming-out-this-year/349757/3 "2006-03-24T19:58:13Z")
I saw them crash on live TV. People friggin’ died there while I watched. Why would anyone think I need a stupid over-hyped Hollywood crapfest t tell me that again? ---
**Author:** ![Skywatcher](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skywatcher/32/254_2.png) [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2006, 8:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-two-movies-about-9-11-coming-out-this-year/349757/4 "2006-03-24T20:01:37Z")
Could be worse…at least Stone doesn’t have Charlie Sheen representing the nutcases’ view. ---
**Author:** ![Elza\_B](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/6a8cbe/32.png) [@Elza\_B](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elza_B)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2006, 8:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-two-movies-about-9-11-coming-out-this-year/349757/5 "2006-03-24T20:04:10Z")
No. I lived it, I don’t need to see it replayed on the big screen. I hope they tank. E. ---
**Author:** ![Menocchio](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/9de053/32.png) [@Menocchio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Menocchio)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2006, 8:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-two-movies-about-9-11-coming-out-this-year/349757/6 "2006-03-24T20:05:22Z")
Not me. No movie experience could compare to the sheer personal horror of that experience (and if it could, why the hell would I watch such a movie). And I was hundreds of miles away, and knew all of my loved ones were safe. Seeing the inevitable hollywood subplot would only piss me off. If this film needs to be made, then it needs to be made for the next generation, so they can know what this was like. And even then, it would be a sensitive subject. ---
**Author:** ![asterion](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/4da419/32.png) [@asterion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/asterion)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2006, 8:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-two-movies-about-9-11-coming-out-this-year/349757/7 "2006-03-24T20:11:25Z")
> [@Menocchio](#): > > Not me. No movie experience could compare to the sheer personal horror of that experience (and if it could, why the hell would I watch such a movie). And I was hundreds of miles away, and knew all of my loved ones were safe. > > Seeing the inevitable hollywood subplot would only piss me off. If this film needs to be made, then it needs to be made for the next generation, so they can know what this was like. And even then, it would be a sensitive subject. For me, that’d be a movie like JFK. Born nearly 20 years after his assassination, I find it really hard to care about it. So much that I’m likely to use “back and to the left” as a joke, taking the line from the movie. And I agree, they’re more likely to be like Pearl Harbor than Tora Tora Tora. ---
**Author:** ![LonesomePolecat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/a88e57/32.png) [@LonesomePolecat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LonesomePolecat)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2006, 8:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-two-movies-about-9-11-coming-out-this-year/349757/8 "2006-03-24T20:23:47Z")
Oliver Stone making a film about 9/11 is like Leni Reifenstahl making a film about the Holocaust. ---
**Author:** ![smiling\_bandit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e9a140/32.png) [@smiling\_bandit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/smiling_bandit)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2006, 8:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-two-movies-about-9-11-coming-out-this-year/349757/9 "2006-03-24T20:43:14Z")
> [@LonesomePolecat](#): > > Oliver Stone making a film about 9/11 is like Leni Reifenstahl making a film about the Holocaust. Worse. Leni Riefenstahl may have been willing to work with the Nazi’s, but she was primary commited to art and simply didn’t care who used it. Oliver Stone is just needs to be commited. ---
**Author:** ![vix](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/a88e4f/32.png) [@vix](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/vix)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2006, 8:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-two-movies-about-9-11-coming-out-this-year/349757/10 "2006-03-24T20:45:18Z")
Experiencing it once was enough. ---
**Author:** ![Mahaloth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mahaloth/32/1079_2.png) [@Mahaloth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mahaloth)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2006, 8:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-two-movies-about-9-11-coming-out-this-year/349757/11 "2006-03-24T20:56:15Z")
> [@Silentgoldfish](#): > > [Flight 93](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0475276/) and [World Trade Center](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0469641/). It’s called United 93 now. [New Trailer](http://www.movie-list.com/trailers.php?id=flight93) ---
**Author:** ![DKW](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dkw/32/3118_2.png) [@DKW](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DKW)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2006, 9:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-two-movies-about-9-11-coming-out-this-year/349757/12 "2006-03-24T21:04:02Z")
The hell? Maybe I should just point out the one really glaring difference between this and JFK that’s going to tank this: A lot of viewers _weren’t completely sick of hearing about JFK_. There was intrigue, uncertainty, a plethora of shady characters, seemingly endless subplots, and a hundred ways it could’ve possibly, conceivably, gone down. The very fact that there was such a huge backlash was a testament to the assassination’s enduring appeal even now. 9/11, even considering that it might have been preventable, has been drilled into our skulls for over four years and used to justify every lunatic neocon policy imaginable. The JFK assassination was (and to some still is) a riveting subject. 9/11 has been reduced to a tired mantra. Malcolm X galvanized an entire race and made us all face truths we never wanted to acknowledge. 9/11 led us into an Iraq boondoggle that’s seemingly just one disaster after another. The Pearl Harbor bombing was one of the landmark events of the 20th century and marked the beginning of the fall of an empire. 9/11 was ultimately upstaged by a lousy _hurricane_. (9/11 didn’t result in the loss of a city. Katrina did.) It’s going to be ugly. ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2006, 9:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-two-movies-about-9-11-coming-out-this-year/349757/13 "2006-03-24T21:39:17Z")
> [@DKW](#): > > The JFK assassination was (and to some still is) a riveting subject. 9/11 has been reduced to a tired mantra. That’s true. And consider the much greater number of people who had a real, personal connection to September 11th. Almost 3,000 people died, so tens or hundreds of thousands of people knew someone who was killed at the Trade Center, Pentagon or Flight 93. I understand, to my limited ability, the way people felt about Kennedy in 1963. But most of the people who cared about him had only seen him on TV. People can make movies about whatever they like, but this seems so exploitative and trashy. The fact that people are making movies out of September 11th less than five years later is a sign of several different kinds of bankruptcy. ---
**Author:** ![Millit\_the\_Frail](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/51bf81/32.png) [@Millit\_the\_Frail](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Millit_the_Frail)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2006, 10:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-two-movies-about-9-11-coming-out-this-year/349757/14 "2006-03-24T22:12:48Z")
_United Flight 93_? I thought they changed the title back to _Snakes on a Plane_! For real, this is ridiculous. It should be against the rules of Hollywood to make a movie out of a real life national tragedy less than 20 years later. The only people who want to relive that experience are those who want to use it for their own purposes. I hope the films tank, but something tells me that lots of middle American conservatives will turn out because “it’s patriotic.” I can only hope that NYC theaters decide not to show it…I don’t think it would do very well here. ---
**Author:** ![Zsofia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/7bcc69/32.png) [@Zsofia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zsofia)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2006, 10:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-two-movies-about-9-11-coming-out-this-year/349757/15 "2006-03-24T22:45:10Z")
> [@Marley23](#): > > That’s true. And consider the much greater number of people who had a real, personal connection to September 11th. Almost 3,000 people died, so tens or hundreds of thousands of people knew someone who was killed at the Trade Center, Pentagon or Flight 93. I understand, to my limited ability, the way people felt about Kennedy in 1963. But most of the people who cared about him had only seen him on TV. > > People can make movies about whatever they like, but this seems so exploitative and trashy. The fact that people are making movies out of September 11th less than five years later is a sign of several different kinds of bankruptcy. Well, _millions_ of people knew people who died in the Holocaust, yet amazingly enough people still make movies about it (although I don’t know when the first one appeared.) Some Holocaust movies are very good, and some are very awful. Why should this be any different? Sure, these movies will probably suck great goat ass, but I don’t know why the subject ought to be off limits. ---
**Author:** ![RikWriter](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/49beb7/32.png) [@RikWriter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RikWriter)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2006, 10:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-two-movies-about-9-11-coming-out-this-year/349757/16 "2006-03-24T22:55:29Z")
I won’t be watching it. I might watch that adaption of No True Glory about Fallujah if it winds up getting made (and doesn’t get mutated into an anti-war screed in the process). ---
**Author:** ![Squink](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b5e925/32.png) [@Squink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Squink)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2006, 11:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-two-movies-about-9-11-coming-out-this-year/349757/17 "2006-03-24T23:00:02Z")
> [@Mahaloth](#): > > It’s called United 93 now. Will it have snakes? I might go see it if it has snakes. ---
**Author:** ![Cervaise](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cervaise/32/16693_2.png) [@Cervaise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cervaise)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2006, 11:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-two-movies-about-9-11-coming-out-this-year/349757/18 "2006-03-24T23:26:21Z")
The Flight 93 movie is directed by Paul Greengrass. If anybody in Hollywood is going to have a worthwhile take on the material, it’s him. ---
**Author:** ![ivylass](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/9de053/32.png) [@ivylass](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ivylass)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2006, 11:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-two-movies-about-9-11-coming-out-this-year/349757/19 "2006-03-24T23:41:02Z")
I think I asked the question here, if in 100 years or so someone would make a movie about Sept 11 a la _Titanic_, when enough time had passed that the horror had faded away and all that was left was the fascination. I saw it unfold on live TV. I wasn’t here for the live SDMB thread, but I have it bookmarked and I read it every year on the anniversary. I don’t need to see the movie. If I want to see a movie, I’ll watch [this.](http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00006B1HI/qid=1143243394/sr=2-2/002-7486382-8405669?s=dvd&v=glance&n=130) ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2006, 12:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-two-movies-about-9-11-coming-out-this-year/349757/20 "2006-03-25T00:34:16Z")
> [@Zsofia](#): > > Well, _millions_ of people knew people who died in the Holocaust, yet amazingly enough people still make movies about it (although I don’t know when the first one appeared.) Some Holocaust movies are very good, and some are very awful. Why should this be any different? Sure, these movies will probably suck great goat ass, but I don’t know why the subject ought to be off limits. Well, I did make a point of saying it’s not off-limits. And it shouldn’t be. That said, I don’t think people were making historical fiction films about the Holocaust five years after it ended. Judgment at Nuremberg was in 1961, but films with scenes in concentration camps? I’m open to cites, of course. The fact that so little time has passed is only one factor. I doubt I’ll be any more interested in a movie like this (especially by Oliver Stone!) in 2011. While I’m sure millions of Americans knew people who died in the Holocaust, they didn’t watch them die on TV. And I’m _sure_ that five years after the Holocaust, people weren’t sick and tired of hearing about it. The truth of what happened was probably still coming about, the news media was very different, and the American government didn’t use the Holocaust the way it’s used September 11th. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-two-movies-about-9-11-coming-out-this-year/349757.md?page=2)