Mum's Monday: A Tribute to 9/11

Written by: Sandra Hudson and Antony Hudson

Tuesday September the 9th 2001, 15 years ago, New York woke to a bright sunny day. Little did anyone know what was to unfold.

The buildings of the twin towers started in August 1968 in lower Manhattan and once finished had been standing until 9/11 when two planes were deliberately flown into each of the towers, a terrorist attack. Although many got out some were trapped and were rescued later, however over 3000 lives were lost especially above the impact zones and when the towers both collapsed, these included firemen, police officers, and people who worked in the many businesses that were located in the towers.  

The freedom tower has now been built and a memorial and museum are located on the site of the original site of the 2 towers.

When something big like this happens the film industry wants to pay tribute, the following 3 films although may not have come out the order I am going to write this but they are in chronological order, before/during, during, and during/after. These three films show us the impact that day had on everyone’s lives

Warning: These three films contain spoilers

Remember Me – 2010

This film is set in New York 2001 during Summer. Tyler Hawkins (played by Robert Patterson) is a student living off Charles’s – his father (played by Pierce Brosnan) business fortunes. His parents are divorced and he has a younger sister, Caroline. They did have another older brother but he committed suicide when his father disagreed with him wanting to become a musician and wanted him to follow in his business footsteps.

The film starts off after the death of the third son, and details how different people cope with the loss of someone close. Charles seems to have buried himself deeper into his work, Tyler seems to get angry and even more so when he believes the world is against him or his family and friends, and Caroline seems to quietly get on with her life even when her achievements appears to be ignored by her father. Caroline does understand what’s going on and so doesn’t want to add to the family’s problems.

To start with Tyler gets arrested for a fight he didn’t start. He’s bailed out by his father after which his friend, who notices the arresting officer has a daughter and eggs on Tyler to ask the daughter, Ally (played by Emilie de Ravin) out in order to get revenge. He falls in love with her, however this doesn’t seem to keep Tyler out of trouble. After Caroline is bullied at a sleep over and has her hair cut by one of the other girls. The next day when Tyler takes Caroline to school, one of the girls makes a comment regarding Caroline’s hair, resulting in Tyler destroying school property and has to bailed out again.

As a result of this, Charles requests a meeting with his son and we see Tyler walk into building and a date is visible in the background. It is 9/11. Tyler waits for his Dad to arrive in his office, which is in the middle of the impact zone when the first plane goes into the world trade center tower.

At the end of the film there are 2 grave stones one reading the name of the older brother and another reading Tyler Hawkins, standing in front is Caroline with her Dad Charles. I feel the sorriest for Caroline losing her 2 older brothers. Tyler we see in the film protects his little sister and she dotes on her older brother. The tragedy however bought her and her Dad I think closer together as we see them walk off together holding hands.

However, the film changes the way it impacts you when re-watching it. Whilst the initial shock and surprise has passed when watching it the first time round, during the second time, you know the ending and what’s going to happen, and there’s a sense of you not wanting it to happen. It still has that impact and still remains devastating, and so your perception of the film changes slightly. This is the type of film where you have to watch it without knowing what’s going to happen to the family to give the ending the justification it needs. Then, when watching it again, keeps that justification in check but delivers it in a different way.

Remember Me captures everyday life perfectly. It’s just an ordinary family that has their fair share of ups and downs with a few certain moments added to flesh out the storyline. The film shows the sudden shock the attack on the two towers has.

***

World Trade Center – 2006

When this film came out, my thoughts were “it is too soon to be making films about this tragedy”, however, upon seeing it, I changed my mind. It is definitely a story that should be told. It is based on a true story that happened on the day.

Two port authority police officers, John McLoughlin (played by Nicolas Cage), and Will Jimeno (played by Michael Pena) get called to the World Trade Center after the first plane goes into the north tower. They are helping with the evacuation of the south tower when the second plane goes into it. when the second plane hit it was lower down and the south tower collapses first, burying John and Will deep within the rubble. They are alive but severely injured but they can still talk to each other.

The north tower then collapses, followed by a hotel which was damaged by fire when the other buildings collapsed. A total of 3 buildings came down on top of them. During the men being trapped the film is very dark throughout, there is not much light as it focuses mainly on the 2 men and their ordeal whilst they are awaiting and hoping for rescue.

A marine only known on the day as Sergeant Thomas, goes to Ground Zero, to see if he can do his bit to help, he hears voices after asking if there is anyone there, and locates the men and a rescue party who digs down and sideways and the two men are rescued. Sergeant Thomas then walks off after having done his bit, and so he slips into the unknown, so in the film his character is played by a white man – William Mapother – when in actual fact Thomas is a Black man. Years later Sergeant Thomas has moved away from New York and during an episode of Extreme Makeover: Home Edition, he told Ty Pennington that he saw a trailer and the scene of a character rescuing two people, he said to his wife that’s was what he did.

During the film and the episode of Extreme Makeover, it’s clear that Thomas was just a modest helper that felt the need to just do his bit and get to the disaster zone as soon as he possibly could. He didn’t realise the big impact he made as the 2 men that were rescued were the last 2 to be rescued.

Although the 2 men are still living with effects of the day, they are grateful to still be alive. The film shows that sometimes there is hope and a happy ending.

***

Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close – 2011

This film is based on a unique book of the same name by Jonathan Safran Foer. The uniqueness of this book gives the impression of it having been written by the main character himself, a nine-year-old Oskar Schell (played by Thomas Horn) in the film with his rambling writing of words, anger shown in words, also hurt at losing his father and on the back pages there are photos in the form of a flip book, detailing one of the tragic moments that happened on that day.

On September 11^th 2001 Thomas Schell, a jeweller (played by Tom Hanks) has an appointment at the World Trade Center. Although he survives the impact and is able to leave messages on the home answer machine, he is unable to make it out and loses his life.

The story after the effects of 9/11 creates the structure of the book. When I was reading through the book, I wondered how they were able to adapt it into a film.

Oskar Schell finds a key in a vase in his father’s closet, it is in an envelope with the word ‘Black’ on it. Oskar then sets out on a quest to find the lock the key is for. While his father was alive they would talk about the boroughs of New York and they would make it sound like an adventure to find them. I think this is why this quest is so important to Oskar as I think this helps him feel close to his father and to better him dealing with the loss of him.

The quest begins with Oskar copying all the families with the name Black and their addresses out of the phone book. I think his father has taught him well and you do get the sense of adventure whilst watching this film. Oskar sets out. His mother Linda Schell played by Sandra bullock finds out what her son is up to and like any mother worries. This character is in the background she is there to combat the odd temper tantrum and then we find out that she has helped in her own way, which I think is very clever, as she found all the quest notes and contacted the families, so when Oskar arrived, apart from one they were all willing to help him and look out for him.

I think this is a very clever and good but simple film. Finding a random key then going off the locate where it fits sounds boring but I think what makes this film so good and with more depth is the fact that where he found the key and with what happened to his father, I think this film shows a kind of legacy to a loved one lost.

I don’t want to give too much away about the ending, but Oskar finds the owner of the key in the most unexpected place. You could call it a twist, but I like to think of it as surprising.

These three films capture the day in ways that aren’t either over the top or with too much artistic license. They pay tribute beautifully and stick to the facts. Remember Me has an ordinary family, World Trade Centre tells the tales of what happened during the disaster, and Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close shows the effects from a child’s perspective – overcoming a disaster. 15 years on, the tributes continue and may it never be forgotten.