Witness to 9/11: In the Shadows of Ground Zero 2020

23 Jun 2021 by Peter McGinn

I wasn’t sure what to expect from this documentary. 9/11 is a well-worn subject and this film comes to us about twenty years after the event. It is fairly short, coming in at an hour or so and it’s perspective uses a familiar angle, that of getting reactions from bystanders and witnesses on the scene. But unlike other documentaries on the subject, that is all it uses. The film works best when it records the immediate and visceral reaction of the people in front of the camera. The shock and the tears are real. They react as we would have in their place. It shows some of the rumors that were spread in real time: that there were 8 hijacked planes, that a plane had crashed into Camp David. But there were times when my attention drifted,when it seemed like the camera holder was being just a little too intrusive and the result wasn’t compelling enough to be worth the intrusion. A few of the witnesses didn’t seem to have much to say or appeared to be seeking the attention. Someone asks the cameraman whether he was making a movie, and the person replies something to the effect of “I guess I am,” as if the idea was just occurring to him.