27 WAYS OF SEEING THE NYC OF 9-11.

Byline: Bob Strauss Film Critic

IF YOU HAVEN'T had your fill of 9-11 memorials, you should certainly appreciate ``7 Days in September.''

Assembled by documentarian Steven Rosenbaum, the piece includes footage shot by 27 New Yorkers, many of whom work in film and the communication business, during the attack and over the week that followed. But there are also video contributions from a firefighter, a bakery delivery man, a guy from South Africa, assorted students and others.

Obviously, the resulting compilation covers a wide range of experiences and attitudes, and most of it is blessedly free of the manipulation and self-censorship that marked many of the week's television commemoratives. The tragedy and the many responses to it come alive here in a raw, immediate way that suffers no loss of impact for its aversion to melodrama.

Some of the filmmakers describe their feelings as they covered the twin towers' collapse. One young man, whose camera caught a jumper, explains that ``I stopped filming after that. I didn't want anybody else's death on my hands.''

In most cases, the need to record (and perhaps understand) what was going on overcame any sense of guilt or complicity that filmmakers felt. And they got some remarkable stuff: ash-covered survivors unsure about seeking refuge in nearby buildings, clueless commuters emerging from the subway into a war zone, fast and vulgar descriptions of lucky individuals' escapes, one guy vowing ``I'm gonna be a good boy tonight.''

The subsequent days' coverage, as the filmmakers fanned out across Manhattan and nearby communities, is no less intriguing. A charged (but nonviolent) confrontation outside an uptown mosque and a screaming debate in Union Square that ends in a big group hug show how New Yorkers bonded in more typically confrontational ways than mass candle lightings. There is lots of sorrow, of course, but also bursts of exhilaration as the rescue effort proceeds. And some of the best stuff, without getting sentimental or precious about it, comes out of the mouths of children.

Over the last year, most of us have seen or heard about many of the things ``7 Days in September'' depicts in one form or another. But it's undeniably valuable to have such a wide-ranging compendium in one place, and particularly when it's been put together with such judicious commitment to straightforward, unalloyed experience.

7 DAYS IN SEPTEMBER - Three and one half stars

(Not rated: language)

Director: Steven Rosenbaum.

Running time: 1 hr. 34 min.

Playing: Beverly Center Cineplex, West Hollywood.

In a nutshell: Footage from 27 professional and amateur filmmakers provides a kaleidoscopic view of New Yorkers' response to the terrorist attack.

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A screaming debate at Union Square ends in a group hug in one of the scenes from ``7 Days in September.''