"Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close" opened nationwide on Friday, Jan. 20. The film deals with September 11 through the eyes of a young boy who lost his father in one of the towers. The Hollywood approach to September 11 thus far has been direct and earnest for the most part. Here's a closer look at Hollywood's approach to September 11.
"Collateral Damage" / "25th Hour"
Less than a year after the tragedy, Hollywood had no idea how to deal with September 11. Arnold Schwarzenegger dealt with the tragedy by trying to go back to fighting bad guys. However, his film "Collateral Damage," which found Arnold trying to stop terrorists from blowing up a building in Los Angeles, didn't feel so much timely as ill-timed and inconsiderate; Schwarzenegger would go back to the "Terminator" well one more time before giving up movies for politics.
Spike Lee was more thoughtful when he became the first New York filmmaker to reflect on 9/11. "25th Hour" was not about post-9/11 New York directly but the sense of gloom that hangs over the movie has as much to do with the fearful, edgy sadness of the city as a whole in the wake of 9/11 as it did with the sad fate of Edward Norton's convict on his last free night before prison. Also, the footprints of the Towers are revealed right outside the window of one character's apartment -- the first time the site had been seen in a Hollywood feature.
"United 93" / "World Trade Center"
By 2006 Hollywood was ready to deal directly with the tragedy of 9/11. Director Paul Greengrass gave audiences a surreal trip inside one of the planes that crashed into the World Trade Center as well as inside the air traffic control command center for the East Coast of the United States which tracked the chaos of the day. The striking authenticity of "United 93" included the casting of Ben Sliney, National Operations Manager for the FAA, as himself re-enacting the choices he made on September 11.
The tragedy of 9/11 inspired earnest assessment even from one of the most controversial directors in the world. While many worried that Oliver Stone would desecrate the memory of that day the director of "JFK" and "Natural Born Killers" turned in the least controversial and arguably most flag waving and heroic portrayals of the 9/11 aftermath with "World Trade Center."
"Reign Over Me" / "Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close"
The film that most resembles "Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close" is a slightly more adult oriented but similarly grief oriented film. "Reign Over Me" starred Adam Sandler as a man whose life went to pieces after he lost his wife and daughter in one of the planes that crashed into the World Trade Center. "Reign Over Me" carries the same strange sense of humor and odd warmth that makes up much of "Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close."
Both films are focused on the grief of those left behind after the tragedy and that grief extends to us in the audience. Seeing actors we know playing out the stories of people who really experienced the tragedy and loss of September 11 is the closest that some of us will ever come to knowing what that tragic day was like.
Of course we all shared the shock and the fear of that day but those who lost someone in the tragedy have a different and far more life-altering experience of September 11. Movies like "Reign Over Me" and "Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close" give the rest of us an approximation of that experience that makes both films unique and valuable.
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