"11'09"01 - September - 11" (2002) - Movie Review

The magnitude of an event does not necessarily propagate and impact the whole world as it supposed to in most of the cases. And when it does, it goes on as a long loose end of a rope with unknown origin and reasons. Some may find extreme pain in it while some may find momentary silliness and strangely, some may find it enjoyable for harmless reasons. There is always a human taboo emotions attached to each and every incident and happenings around us. Everyone has the darkest of all feelings and people choosing to go ahead with those in actions and some not to, is what differentiates the good from the evil. While some of the stories may astonish lot of the viewers shown in this movie, one has to always bear in mind that it is individual’s state of mind during those tragic events. The human mind is so complicated and unexplained that the immediate care and fear goes to their family rather than some stranger. This cruel truth needs to be inculcated in our minds to see our life and especially while watching this movie.

“11’09”01 - September 11” is made of eleven different short films originating from eleven different countries and directed by eleven different directors. Each movie has been filmed in such a way that the duration of each segment is eleven minutes and eleven seconds and a frame thus forming the name of the movie. Somewhere in the seventh or eighth segment, the contents were so tragic and sensitive; I decided not to write a review. After seeing the whole movie, I changed my decision because this is one movie everyone should know about and watch it during our lifetime.

This review does not contain any story details about the eleven films and it is for the viewers to watch it to experience the raw truth and movie elegance of this masterpiece.

It will be an injustice to art if one particular piece of work is singled out for appreciation from this brilliant painting made with human tragic, pain, sorrow, hate, regret and happiness. There are some untouched regions in this world, where the tender hearts of various people are unaware of this chaotic yet beautiful environment and the reflection of it is the highpoint of this movie. Everyone will try to remember what they were doing on that dark day in human history. Some of us would have planted our first seeds in our backyard, some of us would have failed our mid term exam, some of us would have had our first drink, some of us would have seen their first child, some of us would have cried and remembered their loved ones and that’s exactly what the eleven movies give us – minuscule details of our instinctive perception of actions.

As an art, it is a work of sheer perfection and intelligence. When some of the segments rely heavily on dialogues and expressions, some other segments shoulder the responsibility to the camerawork and silence. All the segments are arranged in an order wherein the viewer’s emotions are made numb, excite, strain, laugh and cry from segment to segment.

Alain Brigand, the French producer took this brave attempt of discovering the diverse human emotions in different forms of origin. Even though the making of the movie centers on the directors, Alain Brigand brought those beautiful minds around the globe to one single screen and delivered the momentum of the September 11 2001 in a totally unimaginable way.