102 Minutes That Changed America

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.

For how grim and terrible the subject matter is, this documentary is truly astounding in how many different angles, interviews, and pieces of raw footage it has. As sad and horrid it is to see everything in vibrant detail, it's integral to our history. Most of the footage is more disturbing than what any horror film could conjure up in any aspect. I'll say the foreboding music adds a lot to the the overall viewing experience and keeps you very intrigued to the whole doc. I would honestly say it's one of the best documentaries for real footage of a historical event.

I was in my junior yearof highschool when this event took place. Approaching twenty years later, I decided to watch "102 minutes.." This documentary is historically important. It reflects the events of that day, unbiased. The event itself shaped so much of the next decade, and the decade after, I fekt like this film is a rare capture of a world changing event, as it unfolds, without interpretation. I walked away moved and shaken.

It was incredibly moving to watch reports, first hand, in highschool..and then to revisit in my 30's. I highly recommend.

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.

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.