WTC and United 93

[Chris Knipp]

This is what I have been seeing, except that it's complete now. You have to bear in mind that there are other tall buildings nearby, and so it will not have the dramatic effect of the Twin Towers, which stood by themselves.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/scottlynchnyc/6139173394/

One World Trade Center: View from Sixth Avenue and 13th Street.

[Johann]

Cool.
Nice to a street shot of NYC.

[Johann]

I've watched this film again on DVD and have also watched all of the extras.

What's truly incredible is not just John and Will's survival of the World Trade Center collapse and their miraculous recoveries, but also how Jan Roelfs (a Genius production designer) re-created the ground zero set.
It is stunning how they put that set together. It had to be shrunk from the 19 acres or so the actual site was, and they used foam and rubber and dirt & debris and all kinds of detrius to create an amazing set for Oliver Stone to stage a real-life drama of 9/11.
The moveable stages in a hanger are also impressive with their intricate and depth-defying debris sets.
You get a sense of the scale of how and where John and Will were trapped.
3-D models and renderings of ground zero and surrounding New York streets helped them to pin-point exactly where John & Will (and Heroic fellow Port Authority cop Domenic Pezzulo) were trapped. Domenic was helping to free Will from where he was trapped when the debris pile fell and gave way after the second tower collapsed. He died after being crushed and pinned by a giant concrete slab. He also fired off a final shot to alert those who may be above that men were down there still alive. He is remembered as a Hero.

It is an incredibly impressive thing, this re-creation of the rescue and the day leading up to the collapse.
The story of the soldier being called by God to go to ground zero may rankle some, but it's actually true. Oliver is dramatizing recent history, and he's doing it with the most absolutely pure verismilitude he can summon. This is a very important film. Probably the most important of the 00's.
Oliver Stone says it may be the basis for another 9/11 film for him to do.
I would love to see it. Oliver is a Great American.