102 Minutes That Changed America

Channel 4 has absolutely surpassed itself in screening this moving and extremely challenging documentary. For two hours, image after image took one's breath away as we saw real (but mostly very high quality) video footage of the twin towers collapse from 8.45 am until 10 29 am. Played sequentially with views from all angles including actually inside the towers it was heart stopping television.

I think one thing that made it so powerful was its lack of commentary and opinion. It was not a political film, simply an unfolding of an event in something like real time. Some might say it was the extremest form of voyeuristic television but I thought it was a work of true skill and, indeed, art. I should make special mention of the constant but very subtle musical underscore, by Brendon Anderegg, which was quite beautiful. Someone call the BAFTAs. (And the Academy, and the Emmys.) Truly magnificent TV.

102 minutes that changed America is a totally engrossing documentary, focusing on the attacks in New york in real time. Much of the footage has never been seen before. It captures perfectly the terror, chaos and confusion of that morning, using police and fire department radio calls, 911 calls from people trapped in the towers and of course video footage from news cameras and people in the street. The most amazing moment is filmed from an apartment several blocks away. As two women talk off camera, the second plane flies into the second tower. The screams of horror and disbelief that follow are just incredible to hear. Unmissable.

I saw this for the first time a year ago and until I saw this, I never knew how horrible 9/11 was for I was only 9 years old. Seeing this made my heart stop and start nonstop, my hair stand up on end, and adrenaline rushing through me. And although I had nothing related to 9/11, just seeing this made me feel that I do. I've watched other documentaries after I saw this and none of them were as educational as this one. I would definitely recommend this to someone who doesn't know how horrible that day was. And I have to give the crew members an A+ on the sound editing and on how they arranged all the recorded footage into the film to make an actual timeline.

I remember 9/11, in the UK I just finished college and was getting the bus when some people were saying they got text messages from other friends telling them someone attacked the twin towers. When i got home I found my younger brother glued to the TV telling me one of the towers were burning away, I saw it and I was in disbelief.

In the same way this is how the documentary starts with a surprise on seeing the tower on fire, nobody knowing of yet how it hit at the time. That was at 8:46am people just got up to leave home, and on the other side of the Atlantic I was on my way back home.

The style of the program is cameras from camermen on the ground as well as civilian footage, the reactions of anger, fear and more all seen and absorbed to this footage.

Then you see the fires, the jumpers, the second crash, the fall of the tower, the dust, the second collapse and a final dust sweeping over new york.

What was perhaps the greatest shock was seeing the full devastation the dust brought, covering all streets in dirty brown dust, water is dirty, windows smashed and an entire scenery which bears no resemblance to the New York we all know and love. To be there at time must had been terrifying, and no Hollywood film could replicate the fear the events brought as shown from eyes of ordinary people.

This film serves just as much an educational purpose as it does retelling the events.

I watched this two nights ago on the History Channel and was completely engrossed.

I watched the entire thing unravel on Sky News as it happened, and as I was concentrating on the pictures as opposed to the fill-in commentary the "102 minutes" tended to match my remembrance of the time. For example, I will never forget Kay Burley waffling about something, with a picture wall backdrop behind her of the two towers in the distance from well north. I watched a belching cloud of dust create in the distance and knew one of them had come down. Unbelievable as that was at the time.

"102 minutes" recreates the experience from everyone's eyes in the vicinity. Expertly edited, with some very poignant radio messages and phone calls done as voice-over (particularly those of the NYFD).

I didn't cross the spoilers box, as everyone knows the story. But watch for a video left running unattended (family's voices in the background), out a window, industrial hoppers in the foreground, and Tower 1 in the distance. As the inevitable happens in perfect focus, I think my heart stopped for a beat or two. Unforgettable.

Last night I watched World Trade Centre with Nicholas Cage. One review in the paper was rather scathing, and said "the film" about 9/11 was probably still out there waiting to be made. He was right; "102 minutes" is it!.

This is an absolute must see.