unpublished.

World Trade Center
Director: Oliver Stone Cast: Nicolas Cage, Michael Pena, Maria Bello. Runtime:
129 minutes. Opens: 12 October
TEXT BY NADIAH H

It is September 11, and just like any other day, Sergeant John McLoughlin (Nicolas Cage) wakes up before the break of dawn to head to the Port Authority Police Department, in midtown Manhattan. But as somber dark clouds began shrouding the skyline of New York City when a hijacked plane hit one of the Twin Towers, September 11 was not just any other day. Sergeant McLoughlin, along with fellow officer Will Jimeno (Michael Pena) were part of the first team sent from midtown Manhattan to Ground Zero, in bids to evacuate the remaining people in Tower 1 of the WTC. The building collapses before they manage to save anyone else, and as McLoughlin asks Jimeno, “Can you still see the light?” only do we realize that the two of them are trapped beneath 20 feet of rubble, concrete slabs and twisted metal.

In the duration of two hours and nine minutes, one would expect Oliver Stone, fond of throwing in bits of conspiracy theories (think JFK) ruffle some unlikely feathers with World Trade Center. Instead we are fed with serene silhouettes of Jesus Christ, signifying the hopes in these two men (one of the very few survivors from the 2001 catastrophe which saw more than two thousand lives perished) to keep on breathing in time for the rescue team to track them down. With flashbacks of happier times with McLoughlin’s and Jimeno’s loved ones, and jump cuts to those of their wives Donna and Allison cracking down at the thin frays of hope for their survival, Stone nails this one down as yet another idealistic, emotional reenactment of September 11 in epic film proportion to justify the propaganda of God Loves America. But irregardless, WTC still manages to make the average movie buff shed a tear or two, guaranteeing a worthy watch indeed.

Hmm oddly enough I am missing those days in that quaint bungalow down Jalan Bukit Bintang.
Good times.