05/09/2002 - 11 films that, without hypocrisy, tell the human side of the immense global tragedy that was September, 11

11’ 09’’01 - September, 11, a film that was reviled and called “anti-American” by the US press, received an enthusiastic welcome from the journalists at the Venice Film Festival Made by eleven directors of various nationalities, this ensemble film is striking in the diversity with which it portrays the tragic events America experienced that day.

Each filmmaker deserves a mention: Samira Makhmalbaf tells the story of the Iranian children who cannot conceive of such an overwhelming tragedy as that of the Twin Towers. Claude Lelouch powerfully beautiful and poetic images prove that pictures can be louder than words while Alejandro Gonzàlez Inàrritu goes the other way and concentrates on the aural aspects of the tragedy with the TV and radio coverage, victims’ speaking on their cellphones and leaving final phone mail messages and the words uttered by the first aid workers as they went about their impossible task. Youssef Chahine points an angry finger at the American imperialism he says created Bin Laden while Danis Tanovic shows us another 9/11. Srebrenica in 1995, that the women continue to remember with their sad annual ceremony. Idrissa Ouedraogo returned home to Burkina Faso to tell us the story of a child who thinks he has seen Bin Laden and wants to capture him and get the $25million reward. He will give the money to his mother and all the other people who are dying from meningitis or AIDS. Ken Loach got Chile’s Vladimir Vega to read a letter to the victims of 9/11 in which he reminds them of an even earlier 9/11: in 1973 when Pinochet overthrew the government of Salvador Allende in Chile. This coup d’état was funded by America and caused the death of 30,000 people. Amos Gitai used a single uninterrupted sequence to show the after effects of a Palestinian kamikaze on a Tel Aviv suburb that took place in 9/11/01, a news story that was promptly wiped off our TV screens to make space for the live horror happening in America. Mira Nair focuses on the crazy witch hunt that followed the attack with a true story about a young Muslim who was mistaken for a terrorist, only for people to discover that he was one of the countless heroes who were crushed by the Twin Towers collapse. Shohei Imamura’s is a symbolic tale with one important message: there is no such thing as a holy war. Sean Penn, the lone American of this group, entrusted a magnificent Ernest Borgnine as the personification of patriotism and love of one’s homeland.

11 different ways of transforming this immense tragedy into human terms. 11 very moving and effective films that, without being in the least hypocritical, inspire diametrically opposing sentiments like rage and pity.

(Translated from Italian)