The Presence of God in World Trade Center
by Marc T. Newman, Ph.D.

When Steven Spielberg remade War of the Worlds, my biggest complaint was that, amid all of this mayhem, the audience never once sees Ray Ferrier, the frantic father, pray. Unlike the 1953 original, in which everyone across the country was huddled in churches petitioning God for deliverance from the Martian spacecrafts, by 2005, I guess, no one had an inclination to call out to the Almighty as heat rays were vaporizing everything in sight. I just didn't buy it. But where family-friendly Spielberg, who made The Prince of Egypt, could not find a place for God in his remake, in steps Oliver Stone – an equally accomplished, if often subversive, filmmaker -- and surprises everyone. His God-infused World Trade Center is the most spiritually honest film of the year. Stone uncovers every Christian aspect of this true story and gives it full voice. The results linger long after the lights come up.
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World Trade Center: Oliver Stone's 9/11 movie is filled with . . . religious symbolism. by Jonathan V. Last

IT IS DIFFICULT, maybe even impossible, to render critical judgment on a movie such as World Trade Center. The normal aspects of appraisal are meaningless. It would be absurd to measure the film by its pacing or its cinematography. Ultimately, the only thing that matters is whether or not it feels right, and even that nebulous criterion probably has more to do with the viewer than the movie.

All of that said, Oliver Stone's World Trade Center is a solid piece of filmmaking. WTC is an important movie. There were three stories from 9/11 which needed to be told. The first, about the doomed heroics of Flight 93, was brought to the screen by Paul Greengrass earlier this spring. The second, about the FAA's struggle to clear the skies and land 4,452 planes in 180 minutes, has yet to be made.

But Stone has picked the most dramatically satisfying part of the triptych: The story of Will Jimeno, John McLoughlin, Dave Karnes, and Charles Sereika (see this fantastic Rebecca Liss piece for the full tale). the rest of the review