Jacqueline Cutler, Tribune Media Services
Donnie Wahlberg stars in 'The Path to 9/11' Sunday and Monday at 7 p.m. on ABC.
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, September 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 politicised, 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 messed up. The Bush administration messed 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 realised that the plans percolated for years. Yet getting to September 11 means unraveling a tapestry of politics, religious fanaticism, history, money and hate.
Sense of authenticity
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, September 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.
The movie follows the Trade Center bomber, Ramzi Yousef (Nabile Elouahabi, Eastenders), on his deadly travels until an informant's tip results in his arrest in Pakistan. His trail leads O'Neill to bin Laden.
The docudrama is based on intrepid reporting and is culled from the 9/11 Commission Report, former ABC correspondent John Miller's The Cell (co-written with Michael Stone) and The Relentless Pursuit by Sam Katz. Some timelines are compressed, and CIA agent Kirk (Donnie Wahlberg, Boomtown) is a composite. Otherwise, this is accurate, and government officials come off as inept.
