Goldfish Pictures, Reveille Productions, Silverstar Productions, and the Columbia Broadcasting System.

Written By: Tom Forman and Greg Kandra

After numerous films, documentaries, investigative reports, television specials, books and other media relating to the terrorist attacks against America on September 11, 2001, I continue to reference the CBS Television documentary, “9/11″ as the most extraordinary portrait of the events of the day.

Setting out to make a documentary about their friend and his training to become a New York City firefighter, brothers Jules and Gédéon Naudet happened to have their camera rolling when, after hearing a loud roar overhead, they captured footage of the first plane slamming into Tower 1 at the World Trade Center. Then, they simply kept rolling. Not only did the Naudets capture the footage of the first plane, they also have the only publicly seen footage of the chaos and confusion of what occurred in the lobby of Tower 1 immediately thereafter. Every emotion, every ounce of uncertainty and fear, and distressingly, the collage of crashes and thuds which begin to populate the soundtrack to the chaos is something you will not and cannot ever shake from your memory.

“9/11″ is perhaps comparable in some ways to the Zapruder film of John F. Kennedy’s assassination, inasmuch as its existence is generated completely by chance or from luck or by accident. This is not a film, it is history. Everything captured by the Naudet brothers on this particular September 2001 morning is a microcosm of everything that transpired that day, not just in New York City, but also in Washington, D.C. and that field near Shanksville, Pennsylvania.

A completely immersive and harrowing experience, “9/11″ never trivializes or sensationalizes the horrors of that early September morning. Instead, it serves as a historical record – one that is as honest, real, and true as any tangible historical document could ever be.

“9/11″ received Emmy Awards for 2002 in the following categories:

• Outstanding Non-Fiction Special
• Outstanding Sound Mixing for Non-Fiction Programming
  

• Outstanding Sound Editing for Non-Fiction Programming
• Outstanding Picture Editing for Non-Fiction Programming
• Outstanding Cinematography for Non-Fiction Programming

Should I See It?

YES

Maybe one of the most honest and pure films ever made.

A vital historical piece of the September 11, 2001 discussion.

NO

Simply said, it is an extremely difficult film to watch. “9/11″ is unflinching and real, and may be too overwhelming to view, even several years out.