SunnyHello
Nice effects though.
SnoReptilePlenty
Memorable, crazy movie
BeSummers
Funny, strange, confrontational and subversive, this is one of the most interesting experiences you'll have at the cinema this year.
Ella-May O'Brien
Each character in this movie — down to the smallest one — is an individual rather than a type, prone to spontaneous changes of mood and sometimes amusing outbursts of pettiness or ill humor.
rdadmanesh
Unsurprisingly, there seems to be a huge divide between reviewers here as to whether this film is a tribute to or an indictment of America. Perhaps less surprisingly, voters appear to be more aligned with reviewers who hated the film and found it un-American, meaning that I fully expect to get seriously down-voted here. With the passage of time (15 years later) though, it is clear to me that this group is missing the point. Yes, "September 11" seemed rather unpatriotic upon its release, but with the aid of the aforementioned distance, we can now look back on it more clearly and better accept its honesty and realism. For the most part, I admit that I too was left with the impression that the overarching message here is that America should become aware that equally horrendous acts of terror exist the world over and maybe even that the American government had it coming due to the terrorism it has and continues to inflict upon others. What is so terrible about at least considering the merits of this argument and striving for a better understanding of the more global view this film strives to present?To me, the overall product actually surpasses the sum of its parts specifically because it amounts to a collective effort for worldwide soul-searching. Of course, there are stronger and weaker segments here. With one exception (Mira Nair's straightforward and heartfelt storytelling), the quality of the short films increase up to Ken Loach's masterful love letter to Chile as presented through the heart and pen of an exiled Chilean in London. This is where we're reminded of the atrocities of the American government's direct involvement in the murder of democratically elected Salvador Allende and thousands (not just hundreds) of Chileans beginning on September 11, 1973. Oh, the bitter irony!Leading up to this apex, we also get two small-scale bittersweet short films by France's Claude Lelouch and Burkina Faso's Idrissa Ouedrago. Some dismiss these segments as being the two least related to the tragedy of 9/11, but I beg to differ, particularly if you enjoy personal and highly innocent stories mirroring grand-scale events.Minus Nair's tale of a Pakistani mother mourning the loss of her son who was wrongfully suspected of being a terrorist when he was actually at ground zero helping to save lives, the quality goes down somewhat after Loach's contribution midway through. The weakest film here is Israeli director Amos Gitai's cacophonous contribution depicting the aftermath of a car bomb going off on the streets of Tel Aviv (not Jerusalem, as mistakenly identified by some reviewers). While perhaps a somewhat effective anti-media propaganda piece, it lacks subtlety and screams for attention solely based on production techniques. Similarly chaotic is Mexican director Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu's experimental segment, which is essentially just a plain black screen (turning white at the very end) interspersed with just a few one or two second images of people jumping out of windows at the twin towers and a purposely overbearing soundtrack consisting of phone messages being left for loved ones by soon-to-perish victims. Perhaps too "collegiate" artsy for its own good, it nevertheless silently poses the poignant question at its end, "Does God's light guide us or blind us?" Great food for thought! This would have been a lot more effective as the closing segment in "September 11."In closing, it is so disappointing to hear that this film was banned in the US until it became available on DVD. That, to me, brings to mind the stubborn and misguided refusal of our government to address gun violence/regulation every time we experience an unnecessary episode of mass murder in America. Let's not bury our heads in the sand and deny the harsh realities of modern life!
The_Jihadi
Eleven different Film Makers from different parts of the world are assembled in this film to present their views and ideas about the WTC attack. This is one of the best effort you will see in any Film. Films like this are rarely made and appreciated. This film tries to touch every possible core of WTC. Here are some of the most important stories from the film that makes this film so unique.There is the story from Samira Makhmalbaf (Iran) where somewhere in Iran people are preparing for the attacks from America. There a teacher is trying to educate her students by informing them about Innocent People being killed in WTC massacre. Then comes a story from Youssef Chahine (Egypt) where a Film Maker comes across face-to-face conversation with a Dead Soldier in the WTC attack and a Dead Hard Core Terrorist who was involved in WTC attack. Then we see a story from Idrissa Ouedraogo (Burkina Faso) where a group of Five Innocent children's sees Osama Bin Laden and plans to kidnap him and win the reward money from America. Then we see the story from Alejandro Gozalez Inarritu (Mexico) where you see a Black Screen and slowly you see the real footage of WTC buildings coming down. And the people who are stuck in the building are jumping out of it to save their lives. The other most important story is from Mira Nair (India) where a mother is struggling to get respect for her Dead Son whose name is falsely trapped in WTC massacre! After September 11 attack, Our heart beat automatically starts pumping if we hear two names anywhere in the world.. First is World Trade Centre and the second is Osama! This film totally changes our perception and makes a strong point by claiming something more to it.I will definitely recommend this movie to everyone who loves to have such kinds of Home DVD Collection. Definitely worth every penny you spend. But please don't expect anything more apart from Films in this DVD. There is of course Filmographies of the Film Makers but No Extra Features.
Mpbraun2
This document truly opened my eyes to what people outside of the United States thought about the September 11th attacks. This film was expertly put together and presents this disaster as more than an attack on U.S. soil. The aftermath of this disaster is previewed from many different countries and perspectives. I believe that this film should be more widely distributed for this point. It also helps in the the healing process to finally see something other than news reports on the terrorist attacks. And some of the pieces are actually funny, but not abusively so. This film came highly recommended to me, and I pass on the same feeling.
NIXFLIX-DOT-COM
9-11 is an innovative film in many ways. But in other ways, it finds itself mired in the personalities of its 11 directors, specifically those anti-American and those who are indifferent. As you can see, there seems to be no pro-American filmmaker in the whole group. A strange lot, if indeed the producers chose 11 filmmakers out of random. (Which is highly doubtful.)The running theme, despite the various styles and stories, is one of moral equivalency. As if to say, "Since America did these evil things in the past, thus the slaughter of 3,000 of their own is justified." It is most telling that not a single story, out of the 11, makes the "bold" statement that slaughtering 3,000 people who has nothing to do with the U.S. Government, who died because they only sought to earn money in order to raise their family, is wrong.Instead, many of the filmmakers go out of their way to prove moral equivalency between these despicable terrorist attacks and the U.S. Government. As the saying goes, "People who live in glass houses shouldn't throw stone."Or perhaps the theme the filmmakers should be going for is "Two wrongs doesn't make a right." Apparently according to these filmmakers, two wrongs DOES, in fact, make a right. If this is true, then those in England, Germany, and Japan, with their history of genocide, war crimes, and human rights abuses, really shouldn't make a peep when some sap runs into their shopping mall with bombs. After all, have their Governments not, in the past, committed some acts that can be the basis for moral equivalency?5 out of 10