The Guys

One of the most compelling ways to tell a story is to let it tell itself, without embellishment. In The Guys, Anne Nelson's story does just that.

The events of September 11, 2001 are a very volatile subject; Nelson's story stays focused on how to talk about firefighters lost in one engine company at the World Trade Center. It humanizes the event and the emotional aftershock and side steps everything else. Simpson skillfully blends voice-over, text, storytelling, simulated archive footage, along with traditional film-making, keeping the spirit of the original stage play intact. It would be easy to tell such a tale with force fed melodrama, but instead, the audience is allowed breathing room to process right along with the characters on the screen.

Through sheer providence a journalist, was asked to assist a Fire Department captain to write eight eulogies for men lost on September 11. It's all told primarily through La Paglia and Weaver, who both turn in solid performances. Weaver embodies everyone who is the voice of every thought ricocheting through the head of everyone who's not directly effected. La Paglia's delivers an understated but eloquent performance of a man who can't afford the luxury of his own grief; through La Paglia, we see struggling to find a voice for the unspeakable.

There is a lot to be said on the subject of September 11; this film is a reminder of perspective.

There would definitely be certain ways to "celebrate" the heroism of the firemen of the NY fire department in the events of 9/11. However, this is not the approach this film has chosen, it is merely a stage drama transferred to movies with very subtle means, certainly resting on dialog between Weaver as a supporting journalist and La Paglia, a fire commander literally fighting for words to tell the unspeakable for the eulogies of his men lost in WTC. This is by all means well told, just letting in a little "air" of movie means by showing video of what is told, opening the angles of events for the viewer, but never going to real action. This fits well and makes this movie a highly recommendable piece of work, worth to be watched and discussed about. I have trouble understanding, how an average of only 6.3 could be reached so far. This is definitely 8/10.

As a fire service chaplain and critical incident stress management provider, I worked with FDNY at Ground Zero, starting four days after 9/11. Rotating on night, evening and day shifts, I wandered along the edges of the WTC debris field and nearby side streets to check in with resting firefighters. I met an FDNY captain that lost nine "brothers," an FDNY lieutenant that lost his firefighter son-in-law. One FDNY member said: "We all lost somebody in 'The Pile.'" One conversation stands out. Seeing the small cross on my lapel and asking for a blessing, a lone firefighter operating a pumper vented for at least 15 minutes. "Do you realize how many Little League coaches we've lost, how many kids in this city lost their coaches, mentors and neighbors, how many husbands, fathers, sons, brothers, uncles and cousins we've lost?" That's the point of the film: the human side of such a great loss, beyond and beneath all the heroism hype.

Anthony LaPaglia brilliantly portrays an FDNY fire captain for what he was at heart: an ordinary guy; thus, the film's name: "The Guys." The eight eulogies LaPaglia's character had to deliver at eight funerals on behalf of his fire company were much more about ordinary people that served and died in extraordinary circumstances: "guys" that went to church picnics, to their kids' ball games, that fixed just about anything, that could (or couldn't) cook, etc. LaPaglia's portrayal captured the essence of so many firefighters: paramilitary, loyal, straightfoward, problem solvers, action (versus reflection) oriented people that love "The Job;" people generally not given to wordsmithing or "being in touch with their feelings." Yet, given the right encouragement (as from Weaver's character), we discover the deeper nuances and sensitivities of their humanity. They are indeed very ordinary people called upon to perform extraordinary deeds.

It's a subtle film that invites the viewer to ponder the immense human loss we suffered on 9/11/01 -- the loss of some three thousand souls, each with a life story worth telling beyond and beneath whatever they may have done for a living. Even more, the film invites us to reflect upon our own reactions and responses to 9/11 as "ordinary people affected by extraordinary circumstances," seeking to find a "new normal" after a day that will live forever, with other days like it, in infamy.

My thanks to all that had a part in the writing and making of this little gem of a film.

As the story tells...its a film about a horrific accident in US history...But for a swedish guy like me.....and some other tens or tventie milions its a fake-patriotic crap movie....

Why is it always in these kinda stories....that everything must be so much hollywood....so much oh-my-good-where-great-buhu! Well....as a human movie its okej...as a us-propaganda film....its kinda like my behind...

Nice on the surface....but with some degree of crap in it....

I almost never cry at movies, but Anthony LaPaglia had me tearing up all through this movie. I'm not a big fan of soppy platitudes about 9-11, but this movie was very touching. It dismissed a lot of the big-picture stuff in favour of the minutia of people's lives that make them worth knowing about. This is a story about humans, not heroes, which I found refreshing.

Sigourney Weaver is also very good, as usual.

My only complaint is that there were a few instances of repetition in the writing. I'm not sure if that was supposed to be deliberate, as in the character repeating himself out of angst and stress, or if it was bad script editing. I noticed it though because it was jarring, which means if it was supposed to be there, it wasn't handled expertly by the writer. That could have used some polishing.

Other than that, I thought this was a good movie, especially if you're a LaPaglia fan as I am.