'The Path to 9/11
ABC's two-part movie explains the how and why of attacks
By Jacqueline Cutler (copyright) Zap2it
Published September 10, 2006
Leaving an audience scared, silent and queasy are not the typical hallmarks of a great film. For ABC's two-part movie "The Path to 9/11," Sunday and Monday, Sept. 10 and 11, they are the right reactions.
Many documentaries and feature films commemorate the fifth anniversary of the worst day in American history. Most tell a part of the story: the perspective of widows and parents of dead children, who pushed the government to study the attacks, or the mechanics of the towers collapsing, or how firefighters and police officers went beyond bravery. This tells the most difficult parts: why and how.
This should not be watched casually. Turn off the computer and forget about doing housework while watching. Gather the family; eventually, you will want to discuss it. Be aware, though, it is, by necessity, violent.
"This educated me tremendously," says Stephen Root, ("NewsRadio") who plays Richard Clarke, counterterrorism adviser to four presidents. "Sadly, I was uninformed before I started the project. I heard about the '93 bombing but didn't know anything about it. In this, the first hour is about that, and the people they caught, and that is just the start."
By the end of the shoot, which Root says took "forever," he was "more politicized, and I am a pretty mellow guy. I am more frustrated than angry."
Referring to the lack of communication among government agencies, Root says, "It seems to me you want everybody to talk to everybody else."
Though Root did not have the opportunity to meet Clarke, Dan Lauria ("The Wonder Years") met George Tenet, ex-director of the CIA, whom he portrays. Lauria, a Marine captain during Vietnam, volunteered at Ground Zero for eight months.
"I feel very fortunate to live in a country where the military does not question the civil authority," Lauria says from his Manhattan apartment. "We do not have military coups. I hope people walk away from this and say, 'We are supposed to question the guys in charge.' Why aren't they listening to guys like Tenet and Clarke? The Clinton administration screwed up. The Bush administration screwed up. ... I hope this movie makes people question what is going on."
To millions, the attacks seemed to come out of the cloudless blue sky on that hot September morning. Those who investigated the attacks realized that the plans percolated for years. Yet getting to Sept. 11 means unraveling a tapestry of politics, religious fanaticism, history, money and hate.
Scenes shot in caves and along paths that look unchanged since the prophets trod them give the miniseries a sense of authenticity. Morocco, which stands in for Afghanistan, and the CIA building in Langley, Va., add to the film's realism. Weaving in news footage from the first World Trade Center attack, Sept. 11, and the bombings of the USS Cole and the American embassies in Africa reinforces the sickening sense of familiarity.
What is unfamiliar is how much was going on for so long. At the heart of this film is intrepid FBI agent John O'Neill (Harvey Keitel, "Pulp Fiction"), who since the first bombing of the Twin Towers was determined to nab Osama bin Laden.
