Ten years later, I’m surprised at the lack of narrative feature films that have depicted the events of 9/11. A couple that immediately come to mind are 2006’s United 93 and World Trade Center. (Of course, the 2004 Michael Moore documentary Fahrenheit 9/11 deserves mention here, despite not being a narrative.) Sure, there have been some others in which 9/11 served as a backdrop or back story, but very few in which the attacks, themselves, are dramatized for the big screen. Perhaps some feel it’s still too soon or it would be wrong to profit from the tragic events—though that’s never really deterred filmmakers with a story to tell in the past.

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kHdqw6scuIc]

UNITED 93

IMDb Summary: A real-time account of the events on United Flight 93, one of the planes hijacked on 9/11 that crashed near Shanksville, Pennsylvania when passengers foiled the terrorist plot.

Director: Paul Greengrass

Screenwriter: Paul Greengrass

Producers: Tim Bevan, Eric Fellner, Paul Greengrass, Lloyd Levin

Cast: JJ Johnson, Gary Commock, David Alan Basche, Olivia Thirlby, Liza Colón-Zayas

Genre: Crime, Drama, Thriller

Distributor: Universal Pictures

Runtime: 111 min.

Rating: R, for language and some intense sequences of terror and violence

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yoVTupwbQ-s]

WORLD TRADE CENTER

IMDb Summary: Two Port Authority police officers become trapped under the rubble of the World Trade Center.

Director: Oliver Stone

Screenwriter: Andrea Berloff

Producers: Moritz Borman, Debra Hill, Michael Shamberg, Stacey Sher

Cast: Nicolas Cage, Michael Peña, Maria Bello, Maggie Gyllenhaal, Jay Hernandez, Michael Shannon

Genre: Drama

Distributor: Paramount Pictures

Runtime: 129 min.

Rating: PG-13, for intense and emotional content, some disturbing images, and language