Customer Reviews

In Memoriam - New York City, 9/11/01 [VHS]

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REMEMBER: This DVD pulls no punches in its graphic depiction of the horrors of 9/11. It shows raw footage of first one, then another plane crashing into the World Trade Center towers. It includes footage taken from an NYPD helicopter that circled the tower but was unable to land on the roof. A man is shown waving a towel from one of the open windows on a very high floor, but there was nothing they could do to rescue him. It has disturbing footage of people jumping to their deaths, as then mayor Rudolph Guiliani and others watch in horror. It shows the first tower collapsing as the person filming it keeps yelling, "Oh my God, oh my God, oh my God!" It shows the next tower collapsing and the huge cloud of smoke and debris speeding down the street as people run for their lives. The aftermath of the attacks is also included, showing the streets and people covered with soot and choking for air.

REFLECT: The courage of the police, the firefighters, and all emergency workers shines through the dark smoke and rubble, as they rush to the scene to try and save as many lives as they can. The strength of mayor Guiliani and his staff, as they try to restore order to the chaos, is remarkable. The grief and sadness while watching a succession of funerals is heartbreaking. Watching this DVD documentary stirs up many strong emotions, as the wounds from those events have not fully healed.

RESPOND: We can't forget the unjustified terrorist attacks that occurred on American soil on that fateful day. We can respond by donating time and money to September 11 charitable foundations to help America recover from these vicious terrorist attacks. Net proceeds from the sale of this DVD are donated to the Twin Towers fund. More importantly, we can respond by remaining strong and ever vigilant to ensure that these horrors are never repeated.

If you are looking for a straightforward, non-politicized record of the attacks on America on September 11, 2001, this is the DVD to buy. It combines video footage from many different news organizations and ordinary citizens with interviews of Mayor Giuliani and many of his staff to present an unflinching, uncensored record of that terrible day. If you saw this when HBO originally aired it (I did not), you know that some of the images are disturbing. This program does not apologize for the graphic nature of many of the images, and I do not believe it should. Mayor Giuliani says it best in the program, but I will dare to paraphrase him here: We have to cry, and we will cry, but our tears will remind us of what happened that day and build in us the resolve to do everything we can to ensure that nothing like this ever happens again. If you want some permanent record of this tragic event of our history so that our posterity can see it as well, buy this DVD. It is painful to watch. You will weep. But we must all remember, and this program will help us all do that.

I was looking for a DVD that contains historic footage and stories of the events that took place in NY on 9/11/01. Well, I must say that this DVD really leaps you back in time; back to the moments that the plains hit (different cameraviews); back to the moments of the collapse, the panic, the anger, the rescueworkers and all the emotions that come up when you experience such a horrific event. Tears came out, when I put myself in place of the people crying at the funerals of their loved-ones. The editing of this DVD is brilliantly done, you really experience the feeling of being in the lobby of the WTC 1 building a few moments before the collapse, the music is sad and low profile. For younger viewers I think this DVD is not appropriate. You see images of people jumping out of buildings, and the grief is heartbreaking. I cannot imagine a DVD covering these events better as this one.

I was stunned after seeing this HBO special. The first half is shocking: never-before-seen stills and videos, agonizingly real, disturbing. The second half reminds us that 3047 people from 83 countries were savagely murdered, leaving behind 3251 children who lost a parent.

Yes, I was moved to tears. The cameras and video recorders were there, quietly filming planes flying into buildings, people jumping to their deaths, family members mourning. So painful to watch, yet required viewing for anyone who is starting to forget about what happened September 11, 2001.

All I could think of was the beast who planned this mass murder, and how he gloated and laughed about it afterwards. And the countries who were responsible for funding it...

WOW!! It made me cry, again. AS an NYPD officer that horrible day I had the misfortune to hear and feel the first plane hit and to actually see the second plane hit. I lost two NYPD buddies and my wife's brother, all good men. At the very least, this DVD allowed me to see what others experienced that day. Be forwarned that it does not ignore the harsh realities (a person falling from a tower, another person who fell after they hit the street (shown from a distance, perhaps if I wasn't a cop I wouldn't even have realized what we were looking at)) SIMPLY OUTSTANDING!! I will show this to my two toddlers, many years from now, so that they might comprehend why we lost "Uncle Jimmy".

I figured that maybe I'd include a review of this program , being that I'm someone who actually lives in the city. I was watching the horror from my terrace, fourteen floors up. I don't know if I can convey to you how horrible it was to actually see it with my own eyes but I'm sure you can guess. Watching this program makes you damn proud not just to be a New Yorker but just to be an American. The program was tastefully done and was not an in your face production, even though there were shots of the planes hitting that I had never seen before and somehow they were worse than any before them. Mayor Guiliani acts as a nararrator of sorts and after watching this, my respect for the man was tripled. All in all, I think this might be worth purchasing. Only because it didn't feel like it was made to cash in. It replicated for me the feelings I felt that day and yet managed to cast hope. You can practically feel the emotions in every frame, from beginning to end. Definitely worth seeing, at the least.

Images can be cut up but they always remain pure and clear : images never lie.They can be sometimes too peremptory but they always contain their own meaning despite any discourse analysis.

Tonight for the 2nd time I've seen "In Memoriam" (1st time on CNN a few months ago and tonight on French tv)and I felt the same way : images always have the last word and tears are always the result of a profound pain. The feeling of loss is tremendous and overwhelming at every level...
However the analytical approach of this remarkable HBO film poses the crucial question : WHY and HOW all this could happen ?

"IN MEMORIAM" : an honour to the loved ones who had to "leave" so brutally and to those who had so suddenly to live without their loved ones.

I watched this recently, on the third anniversary of that dark, dark day, and by the end, I had tears running down my cheeks. I live in Texas and I've never been to NYC, but 9/11 changed me, irrevocably and dramatically. Nothing in life is more horrifying than the image of that second plane knifing into the tower...it was and is the stuff of nightmares.
This film has great footage, much of it new, and the cooperation of Giuliani and his staff makes it all the more valuable. Regardless of your politics, what Giuliani, Bush, and Pataki faced on that day was beyond all imagining...and they, and America, did pretty damn good by me.
Never forget, folks...

The events of September 11, 2001 marked the first real shock of the modern era, an act of violence that did indeed change the world. It is only fitting that having taken place in the 21st century, the terrorist attack on the World Trade Center is the most documented event in history. "In Memoriam- New York City, 9/11/01" tries to compile as much footage and information possible for a 60 minute film to give us a visual documentation of what took place on that dark, unforgettable day. For many who weren't in New York on September 11 this will be one of the first films that will truly give you a sense of what it was like to be there, some viewers probably won't realize the actual extent of the attack and damage until they view this film. The interviews and eyewitness accounts are priceless and important, one of the key uses of film as a whole is to preserve events and memories for future generations so they can know what happened and what they should prevent from happening. The images are incredible, the film shows us in chronological order the sequence of events. Each event ranging from the first airplane crash to the final tower collapse is shown from various angles, some close, some far away. The original sound is preserved and so when the second plane hits the WTC, we hear the actual crash and explosion, never has such documentary footage sent a chill down my spine. One of the most haunting moments is the section dealing with victims who threw themselves from out of the towers as they burned, the use of "Adagio For Strings" gives this sequence a heartwrenching, visceral feel and you begin to realize the extent of the horror of what people saw. Rudolph Guliani's comments are fascinating and very heartfelt as well as the commentary from members of his staff. What "In Memoriam" does for viewers who are only familiar with the events of September 11 through news broadcasts is give them a true feel of the enormous scope, emotional and historical, of the attacks. It is not a political film, it is not biased (in fact, the filmmakers include a shot of a Muslim funeral for one of the attack victims), it is simply a document of what happened in New York City. This is one of those films that must be shown in schools and sought after by anyone trying to inform themselves. We can never forget the events that change the course of our history and films like these see to it that we don't.

Touching, human, without undue melodrama or hysterical hype. This was shown on ... Memorial Day; for me, reliving that morning in NYC in the very real, very gritty way it happened. But it brought the one "intangible" part of the experience right to the front-- that day was all about being in touch with other people, who were living through this moment by moment with you. That's the center of this piece, people. From Giuliani to the man on the street, it is the story of individuals.

I don't want to see a lot of capitalizing on 9-11. I won't bother with the stream of books, videos and commemorative special anythings that are coming to market. But this is a genuine tribute, the memorial it titles itself as. Buy it.