'World Trade Centre': A triumph of propaganda

Phil Simms

Now you may think I am being somewhat facetious tearing to shreds a movie that depicts quite possibly one of the most horrific and defining moments of our lifetime and well yes you would probably be right.

Alas, the entire film was based on the media theory of binary opposites, Christian iconography and American supremacy. All used in conjunction with each other to create one giant emotive response of sympathy, injustice and ultimately, at the end, a sense of triumph of good over evil i.e. an American victory.

The opening sequences of the film was showing America in equilibrium, each shot awash with national flags, white middle-class people living out the now much clichéd 'American dream'. It was not until the mid-point of the film, as the events started to unfold the 'real story' that was to be told and by all counts I felt that this was done rather well - the whole coming together of people for one common goal - to help people out of the crisis.

Yet the filmmakers still manage to mess this up. Not one woman was seen injured throughout. I think the Americans have advanced enough by now to let women work professional jobs within the doomed trade centre - not one was to be seen anywhere - apart from a prostitute outside, (who incidentally was Black). When the rescue operation was in full flow there were rows of people passing the wounded men away from the wreckage. All white American.

The most entertaining bit was the advent of the marine soldier who found the two blokes in the wreckage. Upon finding the men who were crying out for help, the soldier replied: "A Marine never leaves a man behind," classic American tripe - but he continued. He demanded that he be referred to as Staff Sergeant. If it was the director's intention to glorify the armed forces then that fell flat. Another point that annoyed me was that Jesus appeared I think three times, all enforcing the American good guy scenario, and President George W. Bush was, with his airing of a speech, depicted as a national saviour. What utter bollocks.

Hollywood's Nicholas Cage's performance was poor and he was out-acted by the second bloke trapped in the wreckage. The final insult was the fact that at the end there was text on screen telling viewers the numbers of people whoi died. The most interesting point to me was that apparently people from 87 countries lost their lives. All the actors in the film were white, Christian and American. It was a sub-standard film that could have been so much better.

* Also on The-Latest, see Scandal of The 9/11 Black-out , British Director's Cinema Masterclass, 9/11 Inquiry Must Be Re-Openeb and 7/7 Survivor's Blog By Rachel North.