Fine Movie on a Bad Day

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Despite the obvious expense of this production, it is an austere film, which has a little trouble, at its conclusion, trying to make some large generalizations about its meaning. It needn't have bothered. Its simple message is implicit in its actions--and its helpless inactions. There are reports that the political right, to whom Stone has long been an anathema, is trying to lay claim to the movie. But that is nonsense. What liberal would want to deny the compassion and courage of working-class heroes whom the left embraced, historically, long before the right? Very simply, World Trade Center is a powerful movie experience, a hymn in plainsong that glorifies that which is best in the American spirit.