9/11: I Was There

My first thought was, I can't believe it's been 20 years. I was in high school in 2001 and I can still remember the feeling of absolute shock and a complete disconnection to the events happening in America. This raw POV documentary with no overlaid narration brought it all back. Such amazing footage that would have just been someones holiday videos.

Sitting down on September 11th 2021 to watch the documentary "9/11: Life Under Attack" was sort of an emotional thing, so it turned out.

Now, I am not an American and had no relation to the events that transpired 20 years ago, aside from it being a catastrophe and of course knowing that lots of people suffered from those terrorist actions. But having been alive during that time and remembering very well where I was and what I was doing when the news flooded in, of course there is some connection to the past as it is a part of the world history.

I have seen a couple of documentaries about the events already, but I have to say that this 2021 documentary from director Karen Edwards was one that struck hard. Why? Well, because this shows the events as the unfolded from the every man's point of view, as we see it from private records and such.

What hit the hardest, pardon the pun, was the sound of the impact when the fire fighters were in the lobby and you could hear the sound of what could possibly by the sound of jumpers hitting the ground. That was really something that went straight in and it was a sound that is not easily forgotten.

Of course, while well familiar with the events that transpired that day, I feel that "9/11: Life Under Attack" brings a more personal approach to the events, given the recordings used, the emotions captured and the sense of being there yourself.

If you enjoy documentaries and have an interest in the events of 9/11, then you most certainly should sit down to watch "9/11: Life Under Attack". This is documentary done right.

My rating of "9/11: Life Under Attack" lands on an eight out of ten stars.

I was around 14 years old when this tragedy occurred, saw it on news channel, there was chaos all around, even after 20 years we can never forget what happened on that day, so many innocent people lost their lives for no reason. This documentary was very well made, respect to the firefighters and all of them who helped others risking their own life, I will recommend this documentary.

I keep thinking I've seen all the 9/11 footage there is, but then new documentaries keep proving me that wrong. This is worth watching for some (potentially) new footage and viewpoints alone, although there is still a lot of familiar shots throughout.

Most affecting moment might have been a newsreader commenting on how hard the plane collision replay was to watch, because now, all these years later, I've been so desensitised from seeing the collisions so many times. I assume others would feel the same in regards to being desensitised, and it drives home the idea of how different things would have been before that day.

Presentation wise this does a solid but not quite amazing job at constructing a narrative out of almost just amateur footage. It's not the best 9/11 documentary out there, but it's a pretty good one.

I've seen most of the coverage of 9/11 attack, especially New York. In my opinion the work by the two French brothers, while mostly centered on FDNY, is the most comprehensive in terms of luck in being in the right place, and post event editing and narrative. Falling Man, is another that should not be missed since it is so troublingly poignant, and one can not watch it without considering what we the viewer might be forced to do in the same situation. Nat. Geo. And Nova have great work on how the buildings fell which either will convince the conspiracy theorists or leave them wallowing in their nonsense.

There is also some great work on the disfunction between the US air traffic control and the pentagon, as well of course the shocking incompetence of the CIA and FBI in ignoring the dozen of red flags going back to the 1990s (and experts say they are even more politicized and bigger bureaucratic messes today).

"Life under Attack" is a great addition, assembling a sizable amount of raw footage shot by amateur bystanders woven in with more professional raw footage from news crews. I recommend it.