The Hindu : Karnataka / Bangalore News : 9/11, in true Hollywood style

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Sunday, Nov 12, 2006
ePaper

Karnataka

Karnataka - Bangalore

9/11, in true Hollywood style

MARINES IN ACTION: A scene from World Trade Center

World Trade Center (English)

Director: Oliver Stone

Cast: Nicholas Cage, Micheal Pena, Maria Bello and Maggie Gyllenhaal.

There are two ways to go about tackling on film a tragedy of the scale of 9/11. One is the Paul Greengrass way, with a stark, somewhat oppressive semi-documentary style that minces no words and gets at the very heart of the tale.

The other is the Oliver Stone way, with a hero-worshipping, emotion-charged style that will have most Americans weeping and cheering by turns, while everybody else shifts uncomfortably in their seats because no one wants to disrespect the memory of that tragedy.

It's not that Oliver Stone is out of his depth under the rubble of the World Trade Center.

On the contrary, it is typical of the kind of tale that Stone has always delighted, shocked and moved us with in much the same league as JFK, Nixon or Alexander.

With World Trade Center, however, he seems to have reached a point where the knife-edge balance of restraint is lost and the direction falls into the realm of grandstanding. Thus, Stone has his actors saying, "We are not leaving you. We are the Marines, you are our mission."

Admittedly, this isn't a bad film. With cinematographer Seamus McGreavey, Stone creates the perfect representation of the rubble that 9/11 left the world in. And though much of the film keeps a focus on Nicholas Cage and Michael Pena, Stone's larger-than-life feel removes from these sequences to the intense claustrophobia that left many uncomfortable with United 93.

And Pena himself is wonderful in the film, real, honest and moving. But placing World Trade Center alongside United 93, one is left with the feeling that with age, Stone has lost his edge, and is happy settling into the easy, predictable cushion of mediocrity.

Rakesh Mehar

Printer friendly page
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Karnataka