A tribute to heroes: World Trade Center takes us back to 9/11 to remind us of the bravery and heroism of the police officers, firefighters, and civilians who responded to the attacks that day.

Every so often a book is written or a story is told or a film is made that is more than the sum of its parts. These stories carry within them a meaning that is far deeper and more meaningful than fiction alone can convey. They speak to the greater truths that lie just below the surface and that are often unacknowledged amid the hustle of everyday life. Such stories remind us that amidst unspeakable evil there is overwhelming good. They remind us that bravery and honor and courage and love are great virtues. And they remind us that heroes really do walk amongst us. Director Oliver Stone's new film, World Trade Center, is such a story.

Carnage and Terror

September 11, 2001 was a beautiful day. Across most of the eastern half of the United States the weather was clear and fine. The morning sun illuminated a crystal blue sky--in New York City, its golden rays filtering majestically through and amongst the glittering steel and glass of the magnificent skyline. There was no reason to suspect that on this most perfect of days, a colossal evil would soon be perpetrated.

Shortly before 9 a.m. Eastern time, that beautiful golden day would be shattered in a hail of molten aluminum, steel, and jet fuel. The unspeakable carnage and death wrought by terrorists that day would become the backdrop for some of the greatest acts of heroism ever seen. From all over the great city of New York, firefighters and police officers responded, pouring into Manhattan toward the stricken towers of the World Trade Center. Among them were officers John McLoughlin and Will Jimeno of the Port Authority police. World Trade Center tells their incredible story.

Like many other brave officers and firemen, McLoughlin and Jimeno did not hesitate to rush into the towers of the World Trade Center in an effort to save those still trapped within. They did this despite the terror they themselves almost certainly felt.

The movie captures the absolute horror of the scene at Ground Zero. As McLoughlin and his team approach the towers, that horror is written on the face of Nicholas Cage, who gives an outstanding performance as Officer McLoughlin. As portrayed by Cage, McLoughlin manages to stay calm amidst the carnage and chaos, directing his men to gather the tools and equipment they would need to rescue victims on the upper floors of the buildings.

The planned rescue would never come. Just as the men gathered their equipment came a sickening rumble as one of the buildings began to collapse. In the movie, the men stop and look outside through a set of doors and see the roiling, angry brown cloud of debris caused by the falling building. McLoughlin screams for the men to get into an elevator shaft, and the world goes dark.

Miracles

It is quite literally nothing short of miraculous that anyone immediately below the falling towers of the World Trade Center should have survived. Made of glass, steel, and concrete, the towers were enormous buildings at more than 1,300 feet tall each. Every floor of the buildings offered almost a full acre of floor space. It is inconceivable that anyone near them when they collapsed could have survived, much less two men trapped directly below them. Nevertheless, like very few others, both officers McLoughlin and Jimeno survived, only to endure being buried alive in the unstable pile of debris that remained after the towers collapsed.

The colossal horror of Ground Zero strains the imagination, but director Oliver Stone does a masterful job of recreating the acrid, stygian darkness that became the world for officers McLoughlin and Jimeno. It is not enough that they are hopelessly trapped, entombed in a shifting, unstable tangle of glass, steel, and concrete. In addition, they are periodically bombarded by falling, flaming debris from fires overhead. Moreover, their precarious existence is punctuated by moments of extreme terror when another building, the 47-story World Trade Center building No. 7, also collapses.

Making the scene all the more heartrending for viewers, outside rescuers then conclude that the pile of debris is too unstable to continue search-and-rescue efforts, and the first responders who are still risking their lives to save those trapped are called off. Enter a man wearing Marine Corps fatigues. He is on a mission, and his efforts will make the difference between life and death.

A Marine on a Mission

Dave Karnes was at work as an accountant in Connecticut when the World Trade Center towers fell on officers Jimeno and McLoughlin. Having served for 23 years in the Marine Corps, he felt that he would be able to help in New York. His story, most of which appears in the film, is one of the more remarkable tales to come out of 9/11.

Immediately following the attacks, Karnes knew he was being called to put his Marine Corps training into use to save victims at Ground Zero. The movie account largely follows the reporting of Rebecca Liss, an associate producer for 60 Minutes, who told Karnes' story for the online journal Slate a year after 9/11. According to Liss, Karnes drove to church and "asked the pastor and parishioners to say a prayer that God would lead him to survivors. A devout Christian, Karnes often turned to God when faced with decisions."

Karnes then got into his new Porsche convertible and began to drive to New York, but according to Liss, even this was a sign to Karnes that he was following the will of God because with the top down, police would be able to see his Marine Corps uniform and would be more likely to give him access to the disaster site. According to Liss, "For Karnes, it was a 'God thing' that he was in the Porsche--a Porsche 911--that day. He'd only purchased it a month earlier--it had been a stretch, financially. But he decided to buy it after his pastor suggested that he 'pray on it.' He had no choice but to take it that day because his Mercury was in the shop. Driving the Porsche at speeds of up to 120 miles per hour, he reached Manhattan--after stopping at McDonald's for a hamburger--in the late afternoon."

Incredibly, Karnes' plan worked, and he was permitted to walk into Ground Zero. When no one else would venture onto the pile because it wasn't safe, he went. In World Trade Center, it is a poignant scene: as rescuers slowly usher people away from the great smoking pile of debris, Karnes calmly makes his way toward it. As night falls, Karnes picks his way through the pile, finding another Marine along the way. Together, and quite improbably, they locate the trapped Port Authority officers in yet another miracle amid catastrophe.

A Worthy Tribute

Oliver Stone has come under fire from some reviewers for having taken a few liberties with the facts in the making of the movie. For instance, in the film, NYPD officer Scott Strauss is depicted as the first man to reach officer Jimeno when, in fact, it was Chuck Sereika, a civilian paramedic with an expired license, who really was first. Such an oversight, though, does not detract from the film's basic veracity. In the end, World Trade Center is not just about the attack, nor is it just about the trapped men, their families, or their rescuers. Instead, Stone's achievement is in reminding all of us that there are real heroes all around, people who will gladly risk their lives so that others may live. In the end, no one leaves this movie without believing again that America is still the home of the brave.