No 9/11 column here, but 2 questions: Where are the memorable 9/11 movies? And did we suffer a national panic?


I'm already sick of the 9/11
coverage and it isn't even September 11th yet. This anniversary is worth
noting, perhaps with a day of quiet reflection, if you like that sort of thing.
Mainly I find myself thinking right now about friends and colleagues who aren't
with us anymore. I think of these people as friendly ghosts. I don't mind
having them around at all.



But just because 10 years have
passed does not mean that the day is particularly newsworthy. I'm seeing a lot
of dutiful reporters writing 9/11 stories because their editors expect it, not
because something new happened to write about. (Here's FP's Joshua Keating with
a
good overview of the blathering
. And here's FP's summary
of the TV shows.)



Rebecca (of "War
Dog of the Week
" fame) asked me tother day if there is a list to be done of
9/11-related movies. The odd thing I really can't think of a good movie about
9/11 -- my measure being whether the movie sticks with me. Even the
documentaries I watched, and there were several, struck me as weak.



So where are the memorable 9/11
movies? Is it that not enough time has passed? I can remember back in the 1970s
when people were asking the same about the Vietnam war movies, and then a bunch
came along, including Apocalypse
Now
, which is great but flawed, like many of the most interesting works
of art.  



The other question, politically
more important, is whether we underwent a national panic after 9/11. I think we
did. But it probably is too early to tell.

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Published on September 09, 2011 03:53
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