September 11th - The last hours in the World Trade Center
| Movie | |
|---|---|
| German title | September 11th - The last hours in the World Trade Center |
| Original title | 9/11 |
| Country of production | USA , France |
| original language | English |
| Publishing year | 2002 |
| length | 112 minutes |
| Age rating | FSK 12 |
| Rod | |
| Director |
Jules Naudet , Gédéon Naudet , James Hanlon |
| script |
Tom Forman , Greg Kandra |
| production |
Richard Barber , Paul Larossa , Michael Maloy , Bruce Spiegel , Mead Stone |
| music | Richard Fiocca |
| camera | Jules Naudet, Gédéon Naudet, James Hanlon |
| cut | Richard Barber, Michael Maloy, Jason Schmidt, Bruce Spiegel, Mead Stone |
September 11th - The Last Hours at the World Trade Center is a 2002 documentary by brothers Jules and Gédéon Naudet about the terrorist attack on the World Trade Center in New York .
The French filmmakers originally planned a film about a "firefighter in training" in New York City . On September 11, 2001, they got involved in the rescue operation of the fire department in New York (FDNY) and received dramatic and unique images of the catastrophe and the way people dealt with September 11.
action
prehistory
The individual steps involved in training a firefighter are presented. The main actor was selected, recruit Antonio "Tony" Benetatos.
The first impact
Jules Naudet was accompanying a fire brigade from the 100 Duane Street fire department when a suspected gas alarm was reported by telephone at a crossroad near the World Trade Center and was filming the fire fighters doing their routine work when suddenly loud aircraft noise could be heard. He swiveled the camera in the direction of the World Trade Center and filmed how the first passenger plane , a Boeing 767, coming from the right into the picture, hit the center and very high into the north facade of the north tower of the World Trade Center (the recordings were long considered the only ones that show the first impact. It was not until the second anniversary of the attacks that the American television station ABC showed an amateur video by Pavel Hlava , who happened to also see the first impact, or a cloud of smoke from it, from a very far south at the entrance to the Brooklyn- Battery Tunnel had picked up).
The Naudet brothers immediately sold the incident scene, which had been shortened to twelve seconds, separately to various television stations - with the fee they financed the more extensive film documentation of their entire fire service history.
Reaction to the impact
Naudet then filmed the reaction of the fire brigade unit - especially that of its chief: the first feedback to the control center during the approach to the World Trade Center, the arrival in the lobby of the north tower, the imperfect attempt to set up a command center on site, the technical Problems with the elevators and radio traffic. More and more units followed the first alert to the north tower. You can see fire fighters who were the first to make their way upstairs - many of them did not survive the day.
The second impact
Gédéon Naudet, who was at the fire station at the time of the first impact, set off on foot with his camera to the scene of the incident. Coincidentally, he was filming the second plane boring into the side of the South Tower of the World Trade Center, with many smashed objects making it difficult for people on the street. The photos of Jules Naudet, who was still in the lobby of the north tower, document the dilemma of the emergency services: At first they did not understand the meaning of the debris falling next to them.
Collapse of the towers
Jules Naudet's camera recorded the response of the emergency services when the neighboring south tower collapsed. The deafening noise of the collapse was followed by darkness and large amounts of whitish fine dust.
As a result, he filmed in the building efforts to recover the lifeless body of the fire minister , Chaplain Mychal Judge . When visibility improved a little, efforts were made to leave the building complex, which turned out to be difficult in view of the lack of visibility, the lack of orientation and the risk of being hit by people or debris still falling. They finally managed to leave the building, which collapsed shortly afterwards. For a second time, Jules Naudet was surrounded by darkness and dust.
Goodbye at the station
In the station, Gédéon Naudet filmed how the fire fighters gradually returned. People were happy, hugged, and cried. It turned out that all members of the unit had survived the accident. Only the fire brigade student who was supposed to be the subject of the documentation remained missing for a short time. But he too appeared safe and sound. He had been at the scene of the fire with a retired fire officer.
The salvage work at Ground Zero
In the aftermath of the attacks, the Naudet brothers tracked fire fighters' efforts to find survivors in the rubble of the World Trade Center. More and more often it was only possible to rescue the dead - including 343 fire fighters.
background
place
The 100 Duane Street guard in the film is the guard of Battalion 1, Turntable Ladder 1 and Fire Truck 7, in Manhattan . Duane Street between Church Street and Broadway . Built from 1904 to 1905, Architects: Trowbridge & Livingston.
publication
An estimated 40 to 50 million viewers - a third of all television viewers in the USA - saw the film when it was first broadcast on March 11, 2002. The American TV version (with Robert De Niro as commentator) is approx. 30 minutes longer than the one released in Germany DVD version. In addition to the film documentation, the video version contains additional material and interviews about the firefighters involved, the rescue teams and an interview with the Naudet brothers.
First broadcast on German television was on September 11, 2002 in the first .
reception
“The film bundles the events and sees itself as memory work, which documents one of the blackest days in American history. At the same time, the self-sacrificing and dangerous work of the New York fire department is remembered without any fake pathos. A timeless document, the original version of which is commented on by Robert De Niro, although the voiceover sometimes dissuades the depressing images. "
“You could criticize a lot about the film, a mixture of memorial and trauma processing. Its narrative structure, which is based on the classic Hollywood drama, or the massive use of pathetic piano tones, which was toned down for the German version. But that's petty in view of the men who decide in the entrance area of the north tower to climb the stairwell with 30 kilograms of equipment. "
“The Naudet brothers edited their film for almost half a year. The portrait of the men at a fire station has remained (and that of the firefighter's apprentice Tony, who looked after the fire station on September 11th). At the same time, it was an exact copy of the hours after the attack - impressions of dust and rubble, uncertainty and fear. One learns about the guilt feelings of the surviving colleagues; you can hear the rough language of the buddies and their almost tender, tough way of dealing with each other (words like shit or fucking hell were criticized in the USA at the premiere on CBS on March 11th.) "
Awards
The documentary was nominated five times at the Emmy Awards 2002 and won two awards. At the German Television Prize 2002 , the film won the prize for best international program . At the Satellite Awards , the film was recognized in the Special Humanitarian DVD Award category.
More movies
In two other films on the occasion of the 5th and 10th anniversary of the attacks, the Naudet brothers follow the traces of the fire fighters in the years after the attacks. You ask what happened to individual rescuers from back then.
Web links
- September 11th - The last hours in the World Trade Center in the Internet Movie Database (English)
- Article on the film "I knew that I was dying now" on Stern.de from September 4, 2006
Individual evidence
- ^ AIA Guide to New York City
- ↑ September 11th - The last hours in the World Trade Center. In: Lexicon of International Films . Film service , accessed March 2, 2017 .
- ↑ Film review The eyes full of tears
- ↑ Tony & Other Heroes Movie Review
- ^ Richard Huff: Former FDNY member James Hanlon recalls steps that brought him to '9/11: Ten Years Later' doc . In: New York Daily News , September 1, 2011. Retrieved September 20, 2012.
- ↑ September 11th - Five Years After: Return to Ground Zero - A documentary about the fire station of the World Trade Center on 3sat from September 6th, 2006