the documentary

The Naudet brothers film captures the attack on the World Trade Center in a horrifying firsthand account. The whole ordeal seemed very odd to me because these brothers wanted to film a documentary on firefighters and they just happen to choose to follow a fireman that belongs to the fire station that responds to the attacks on the World Trade Center. Despite the fact that it was being filmed during a time of panic, the documentary reflects the physical events and the emotions of some of the people affected by that day. The panic of the filmmakers add to the tone of the film. There were two parts that really stood out to me from the whole documentary.

The first being the part right before the plane hits. The one brother goes to film a normal gas leak check and he is just filming to practice his camera skills. The people on the ground hear a loud noise which sounds like a plane that is too close and the camera lens shifts from the grate on the street to the Twin Towers. Just the curiosity of the cameraman got to me and the fact that it was perfect timing. It was entirely unexpected. The way the camera focuses up to the sky reminded me of how when I hear a plane in the sky I look up, but when these men looked up, their whole world was changed. This pre-9/11 era and post-9/11 era is illustrated by this moment captured on camera. Before this moment, everything was normal which follows this clear blue-sky narrative, but once the plane slams into the Twin Tower, everything goes into panic. The firefighters race towards the flaming building to do their job and save as many people as possible.

The second being the part when the brothers are reunited. The way the one brother describes seeing his brother as meeting him for the first time again was really emotional. Up until that point in the documentary, the one brother is thinking about where his brother is, and at one point he blames himself for bringing his brother into this situation. I could feel how relieved the brothers felt when they saw each other and how important family is to them and to the firefighters. One firefighter says “I don’t think I have ever been that happy to hear my mother’s voice” which reflects the comfort he found in his family. At this time, safety and comfort are the only things people are seeking initially. The brothers rely on each other for this comfort and the firefighters call their families to not only comfort them by confirming that they are safe but to comfort themselves after the hell they had been through. The firefighters are heroes to the people of New York, and heroes are supposed to be big and strong, but the filmmakers capture their vulnerability in the face of danger and discomfort. They normalize the heroes of that terrifying day, and the documentary captured what it was like to be there that day.