jumpspot.blogg.se

That the attacks were seen as profoundly “cinematic”, for example. This practice of attaching too much singular importance to the attacks is easy to identify in retrospect, but was harder in the earlier aftermath.Īdditionally, filmmakers faced more immediate challenges in depicting 9/11.

These conceits have proven problematic as they tend to remove the attacks from their contexts, pre-histories and effects and have been used ideologically, to advance unilateral agendas – and a stubborn brand of American exceptionalism.Ĭinema, literature, art, commentary and scholarship – even work that critiques such notions – have often inadvertently perpetuated this idea of exceptionalism simply by placing yet more attention on 9/11. The narrative follows his final day of freedom: his world has changed irrevocably and he is suspicious of everyone.Ģ5th Hour is worthy of reappraisal for many reasons but I’d like to focus on how it handles an increasingly vexing aporia - the problem of meaningfully addressing the impact of 9/11 without reinforcing the notion that the attacks came “out of the blue” or “changed everything”. The film’s main character, Monty (Edward Norton), is a convicted drug dealer who has just been sentenced to seven years in jail. Unlike some high-profile releases – such as Oliver Stone’s World Trade Center or Paul Greengrass’s United 93, both released in 2006 – Spike Lee’s 25th Hour manages to capture the post-9/11 lassitude that was so acutely felt by Americans, while simultaneously delivering a trenchant political critique.

In fact, while blockbusters such as Spiderman (2002) were hastily re-edited to remove images of the World Trade Centre, Lee made the attacks fundamental to 25th Hour, building in extended shots of Ground Zero and the Tribute in Light to pivotal moments in the film.

Spike Lee’s 25th Hour, released in 2002, was mostly shot during the summer of 2001 and was reworked following 9/11. The most enduring cinematic representation of 9/11 was not originally meant to be about the World Trade Centre attacks at all.