Customer Reviews

World Trade Center - Anatomy of the Collapse

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Being a regular viewer of TV disaster documentaries, I checked this show out when it premiered on The Learning Channel several months after the horrific events it depicts and discusses. It goes into the history of Manhattan's World Trade Center from its initial conception to its construction through to the first WTC attack on in 1993 to the infamous attack that finally brought the massive towers down on that fateful September morning. Also shown in computer-animated demos are the innovative construction techniques (e.g. "tubes" and "trusses") that made the creation of such a huge building possible, and also unfortunately led to its eventual demise.

Some might argue that this documentary takes a too-clinical and unemotional look at the disaster. Personally, I found this to not be the case: in the many interviews of the key people behind the building's conception and creation, it is apparent that all of them are still shaken by the loss of the structure they'd spent so many years and untold millions of dollars to build and maintain. And the scenes featuring federal agents processing the WTC rubble at New Jersey's `Fresh Kills' landfill is sure to grab your gut as well.

`Late

This video is definitely a promo piece that works for the official story, but hidden inside this great documentary are interviews with professors that actually take the official story apart.

Jonathan Barnett, Professor of Fire Protection Engineering, is interviewed in this presentation during the segment on the British Steel Industrial Fire Test of 1995, where a 5 story building filled with office furniture, computers, paper, and other items, in a non-fireproofed environment was set ablaze and allowed to burn for several hours. And what happened? The building stood there with no chance of a collapse. The video footage of the test is interspliced with Barnett's interview, where he states: "When steel is bare -- when it heats up -- it gets weaker. It's not that it melts in a fire, in fact, fires--normal fires--are not hot enough to melt steel. Even if you were, for example, to use an unusual fuel -- like kerosene -- you cannot achieve temperatures hot enough to melt steel." He then adds, "In over 20 years I have not seen -- until recently -- a protected steel structure that has collapsed in a fire."

His statement might be meaningless to you if he was just some schmoe from around the way, but Professor Barnett was one of the chief investigators of the government's NIST/FEMA team that was tasked with determining what made the towers come down.

**It should be noted that the NIST/FEMA investigation even concluded that jet fuel cannot produce temperatures that burn hot enough to melt steel.

Another great interview/segment is with Professor Abolhassan Astaneh-Asl, who is shown examining the steel wreckage of the WTC. He says, "What you see here is actually very critical - very, very important. Perhaps, this is the most important piece I have found so far. ...This is the inside face of [the] back columns. ...What you see here is, first of all, it bent. That was due to [an] explosion - but more importantly - this has a signature of [an] explosion. This has happened due to explosive material hitting this column and making that bulge. So this is [the] floor where [an] explosion happened, and the windows are blown away. Everything is burned. Even [the] fire-proofing on this floor is burned and glazed to the steel."

Any 9/11 researchers out there would be smart to grab this video and archive it. There are extraordinary CGI diagrams that show how immense the construction of the towers was, including the 47-steel core columns that made up the support for the buildings.

One conclusion is echoed over and over in this film, and that's on the morning of 9/11 everyone watching was amazed and shocked that the towers fell the way they did -- after all, NO ONE ever thought a steel skyscraper could collapse from just fire. Throughout the history of architecture, no steel structure has ever fallen due to fire, but on September 11th, "they" want you to believe that two 110-story buildings, and a third 47-story building did just that.

For some reason this documentary seems to put that entire horrible day into perspective. To know exactly how those planes entered the towers, how they hit, why the fire was so intense, why people jumped, why the towers collapsed, seem to satify that angry, sad itch people have to just want to know "how" and "why". It is also touching at points, especially when irony is obvious when an engineer states that "even a 727 could not knock over the building". It's heavy stuff, but seems to answer some questions that are nagging at so many Americans.

Although I was but a few miles away from the WTC on that awful day, I was spared watching it unfold. Like many New Yorkers, it took me a couple of years to even begin to look at the videos surrounding the disaster. The first thing I watched was Ken Burns' final episode to his NEW YORK documentary. Because I had seen the previous seven parts, and had loved them, I knew this subject would be in good hands, and it was.

This documentary, ANATOMY OF A COLLAPSE, was the next I watched. It, too, struck be as well-conceived and intelligently explained. The CGI work supporting the expert analysis was an enormous aide to understanding the chain reaction that led to the implosions. Still, this is an unbearably sad documentary that seemed a little too coldly analytical, almost distant: something the Burns' documentary avoided. But I think everyone will have a different emotional response to anything about the WTC disaster. For this reason, I hope people will watch this video to gain a solid understanding of the whys and hows those beautiful silver towers crumbled.

The Learning Channel has released a fine video of hard-hitting evidence explaining once & for all how the two tallest buildings in the history of Manhatten were reduced to rubble during the attacks of 9/11/01. You'll also see some pretty neat camera angles of the second plane hitting the South Tower, some that I haven't seen before. A brief history of the rise of the twin towers is presented here, as well as footage showing the aftermath of the 1993 WTC bombing. The reason why I don't give this DVD/video 5 stars is because it was only 53 minutes long. They should've added a lot more to this video before releasing it on VHS/DVD. Oh, well, I still recommend this film. It will give you a clear understanding as to why the WTC collapsed.

A very good, sobering analysis by professionals in Structural Engineering, construction and other professions which explain the decisions that allowed the towers to be built and why the buildings were unable to withstand the stresses of 9/11.

This is a very powerful documentary. I saw it when it was on TV and so I bought it the day it was released on DVD. As of this writing I still have not watched it again. It's very strange how everything falls into place to make you realize that the Twin Towers NEVER had a chance. Watch it for yourself and you will awaken into a whole new world of reality. Unfortuneately....it's an EVIL world! God bless America and it's Allies!!!

In spite of what some 'reviewers' have stated, this is not the DVD the government was giving away. That DVD is called 'Up From Zero' and can be requested at http://www.dol.gov/opa/dvd

Good luck though, I requested my copy last fall and have yet to receive it, tho I got an email in December saying the demand was enormous and it should be shipped in 2 weeks (still waiting and just requested it again).

From the website:
"Up From Zero" is a documentary film that pays tribute to the brave men and women of the New York City building trades who put themselves on the line on September 11, 2001 - and for nine months afterward - to reclaim Ground Zero.

*UPDATE* I did finally receive the free DVD, and it was spectacular, much more than I'd expected. If you request it, be patient but don't give up, re-request it if you need to. It was a very informative and interesting DVD. Well worth the wait in my opinion.

While I appreciate tagman77's passionate editorial on the events of September 11, 2001, it lacks an actual review of the DVD.

This style of writing is more "Letter to the Editor" than anything else and didn't give me any indication as to what the DVD is actually like.

Any other reviews out there?

Please note that the author above mentioned New Jersey's Fresh Kills. It is in Staten Island, NYC and NOT New Jersey. I live 3 miles away and also worked across the street from tower 2 (Liberty Street) in the BT building and was there that day.