RETURN FROM THE RUBBLE

REVIEWED -  WORLD TRADE CENTERAFTER what appears to be regarded as a decent interval of five years, Hollywood has begun to grapple with the traumatic events of 9/11 in United 93 (see DVD review at right) and World Trade Center. Both films are formed as dramas of ordinary people faced with extraordinary circumstances.

Oliver Stone pins Nicolas Cage under the rubble in World Trade Center, which concentrates on the experiences of a few survivors in Manhattan. It begins at dawn as Sgt John McLoughlin (Cage) and his Port Authority Police Department colleagues travel to work. When the first plane strikes, they are assigned to help evacuate the building. Flames are burning on the higher floors, the walking wounded are staggering out of the building, and a body hurtles down to the ground. There is the eerie sight of the towers still standing, the work of Stone's impeccable production design and digital effects team.

We do not see the hijacked planes striking the towers. Exercising unusual restraint, Stone simply shows the shadow of a plane overhead, and this, accompanied by disturbing sound effects, is enough to make the viewer shudder.

Inside the building, as the first tower starts to crumble, McLoughlin's team race for cover on the first-floor concourse between the towers, and most of them are trapped under the debris. Given that the film is based on the personal accounts of McLoughlin and his colleague Will Jimeno (Michael Pena), we know they will survive in the end.

What follows is slow-moving, a long day's journey into night. Stone emphasises the human dimension - and breaks the monotony - in cutting between the plight of the trapped men and the anxieties of their wives, Donna McLoughlin (Maria Bello) and Allison Jimeno (Maggie Gyllenhaal), who is pregnant. On the human level, the movie is a valid tribute to the heroism of the men, and their eventual survival is presented as a healing balm, one of the few good news stories on that terrible day.

In that respect, the film marks a significant change from the abrasive, confrontational nature of Stone's earlier work. Sharing the perspectives of the men and their wives, the movie is as isolated from the day's events - and its political context - as the officers immobilised in the darkness.

Stone's untypically apolitical picture takes an unexpected turn later, lurching off balance with the introduction of another factually based character, Dave Karnes (Michael Shannon), a Connecticut ex-marine who dons his uniform and rushes to save the officers. "We need some good men out there to avenge this," he declares in one of several gung-ho lines that drew an unintended response - laughter - at the Dublin press screening last week.

The closing credits inform us that Karnes re-enlisted and served two tours of duty in Iraq, implicitly connecting that war with the awful events of September 11th, 2001.