11’09”01: September 11 (2002)
Running Time: 130 minutes
HERE'S the deal - get 11 directors from 11 different countries to make vignettes relating to the events of September 11, 2001. There is a caveat: all movies must be 11 minutes, nine seconds and one frame in length, an obvious homage to the date in question. Does it work? Well....kind of..
French television producer Alain Brigand was the mastermind behind the idea, and what a worthy one it was. Compressed into just over two hours, the pic has more hits than misses and offers an interesting insight into how the rest of the world viewed that day and how relevant it was to their everyday lives.
So how do the directors fare? Inarritu’s piece seems a bit self-indulgent, which I wouldn’t expect from the director who gave up Babel and 21 Grams. Maybe it’s a fine line between telling a good story and being too smart for your own good.
Loach and Chahine’s pieces offer up overt anti-Americanism sentiments, which is a pity because it would have been great to see more introspective pieces from them both.
Israel's Gitai and Japan's Imamura both try to draw parallels by comparing September 11 with other events, but are super ceded by Tanovic and Penn’s superior visions. I'll even go out on a limb and say the latter two's pieces are easily the best on show.
Not far behind are Nair and Makhmalbaf, who give viewers a feminine aspect to contemplate. Both shorts are magnificently crafted, each with a lesson in how having preconceived notions can lead to misconstrued ideals as to how certain folk should react to such an incident. In fact, I kept waiting for the Revolutionary Guard to come and take Makhmalbaf’s teacher away for showing sympathy for the victims.
A minor comic note is hit by Burkina Faso’s Ouedrago, who is from one of the poorest countries in Africa, let alone the world. Her lead's attempts to capture Osama Bin Laden for the reward money to help pay for his AIDS-infected mother's treatment is both sweet and sad.
Finally, Lelouch’s attempt, while well shot and acted, seemed out of place (kind of ironic in that it was a Frenchman who started the project). I wasn’t too sure whether an out-and-out love story was appropriate, but that is more down to my personal taste than anything.
A noticeable theme running throughout the pieces shot by directors from third-world countries was how they perceived that day. While they undoubtedly saw it as tragic, there was no overwhelming grief, which seems more down to how hard their countryman's day-to-day existence is, as opposed to a lack of empathy.
3.5 stars out of 5
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