102 Minutes That Changed America

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.

There have been many documentary about 9/11 since the attack. This one took the idea of the TV show "24" and showed the events from seconds after the 1st plane hit up to about 100 min thereafter in real time. The footage used were mostly from personal camcorders, and some from TV. The audios were either directly from the camcorders, from the media coverage or phone conversations sound bites at the moment. What was interesting about the documentary is that the point of view is not at the Twin Towers, but away from the Twin Towers. You see people in Time Square watched it on the outdoor large screen. You see students watching the event from Stevens Institute across the river in Hoboken, NJ. You see how people reacted in their apartments far away from the Twin Tower. In a way, the documentary is not just about 9/11, but an anthropological view of the people's reaction upon crisis. The editing job of putting all these material together was superb.

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've seen many documentaries about this horrible tragedy but non of them did have so much shocking atmosphere.

It is not typical documentary with narration or speaking hosts, it is true image of the tragedy very intelligently made from multiple camera shots and recorded voices of people that witness it from beginning of the attacks.

The background music is of pure horror that follows scenes from first shot till the moments when huge dust settled after both towers collapsed.

It is the image of the real situation, the pure horror of that tragedy, the real image of human fear and shock. If you ever saw catastrophic movie and you know the excitement feeling, this documentary will make you feel shocked, speechless and with tears in your eyes.

Great great work.

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.