I caught most of the miniseries airing on ABC for the last couple of days. I’ve heard lots about how some found it riveting, maddening, false, true, all sorts of things. One thing is for certain, the movie will be talked about.
I have a hard time listening to the detractors coming from Clinton’s camp. It’s not that they don’t have some valid points about the fictionalization of the content. However, I thought the movie was fairly even handed, and the real culprit seems not to be the Clinton Administration or the Bush Administration, but bureaucracy itself. And both parties were guilty before 9/11 itself. It’s just that the Bush camp got serious after the event and I feel that most Democratic leaders have not. Even the NY Times thought the movie was politically neutral.
As for the movie itself, I found it rather riveting, but brutal at times. I had to continually shuffle my kids out of the room when it was on, getting them on schoolwork tasks and then to bed slightly earlier than usual so that we could watch the show. I wondered if some of the scenes of torture and general mayhem really needed to be there.
Stylistically, there were also some parts that just weirded me out. And I’m not just talking about the strange things that the movie showed the Islamists doing, I’m talking about the camera angles and vivid close-ups of people’s faces (and eyeballs and backs of necks).
In other areas, much ado has been made about conspiracy theories, and those little pesky items (like the mantra that the twin towers were too sturdy to fall from just the planes and fires and there just HAD to be explosives too). Read this, from James Meigs, editor in chief of Popular Mechanics, on how they researched the heck out of these “theories” and found them severely lacking in factual foundations.
And via Instapundit, here is Bush’s speech to mark the anniversary.
And, finally, here’s a comprehensive look-back from Winds of Change that’s worth your time.
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