Product Details

• Actors: Timothy Bottoms, John Cunningham, David Wolos-Fonteno, Gregory Itzin, Penny Johnson
• Directors: Brian Trenchard-Smith
• Format: Closed-captioned, Color, DVD, NTSC
• Language: English
• Region: Region 1 (U.S. and Canada only. Read more about DVD formats.)
  
• Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1
• Number of discs: 1
• Rating: R (Restricted)
• Studio: Showtime Ent.
• DVD Release Date: September 7, 2004
• Run Time: 127 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 3.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (43 customer reviews)
• ASIN: B0002F6AJI
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #62,157 in Movies & TV (See Bestsellers in Movies & TV)
• For more information about "DC 9/11 - Time of Crisis" visit the Internet Movie Database (IMDb)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

If you're looking for an unrepentantly flag-waving, pro-Bush depiction of the President's actions in the wake of 9/11, look no further--DC 9/11: Time of Crisis will have any fan of Michael Moore reaching for an airsickness bag. "Whoever did this isn't going to like me as president," intones Timothy Bottoms as George W. Bush, who never speaks with anything but firm resolve and terse machismo; this slick Showtime production even imagines heroic pillow talk between the President and the First Lady. Donald Rumsfield, Dick Cheney, and the rest of the administration are all portrayed as selfless and well-informed civil servants, and the movie subtly promotes the USA Patriot Act, increased military spending, and the policy of pre-emptive war. DC 9/11 also mixes documentary footage of the 9/11 attacks and rescue efforts with fictional accounts of the behind-closed-doors meetings, which will polarize any discussion of its subject matter. --Bret Fetzer

Product Description

DC 9/11: Time of Crisis focuses on the difficult decisions and tasks faced by President Bush and his staff on September 11, 2001 and the days following the attacks. This dramatic film will be released shortly before the third anniversary of September 11th. Based on in-depth interviews and extensive research, the film recounts the tragic events from the moment Bush hears the news of the attacks to significant briefings with advisors. Chronicling national security meetings, which piece together evidence linking Osama bin Laden and the Al Caeda network, the film uncovers how Bush and his staff dealt with the volatile situation. In addition, DC 9/11: Time of Crisis illustrates the Administration’s strategy for responding both to the terrorists and the American people. Eschewing their own feelings and healing process, the President and his team instead tended to the needs of a wounded country.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

32 of 43 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Every American Should See This Film!!!, October 3, 2004

By	Captain Hornblower "captainhornblower" (Orlando, Florida USA) - See all my reviews

I just finished watching the film DC 9/11, and I was very impressed with it. Granted, it is a film that is made to present President Bush and his administration in the best light possible. This film definitely presents Bush as heroic in his handling of the 9/11 crisis. But, in a way, how else could Bush be portrayed? Put aside for a moment America's division over Bush's actions later in his administration (Iraq, etc.). Think back to Bush's performance as President in the week of the 9/11 attack, which is the subject of this film. I think any reasonable individual would say that Bush handled the situation extremely well, and was able to rally the nation to a firm resolve to recover from the tragedy.

Plus, when one thinks about it, a film that centers on an important leader can either present the person as very heroic or very villainous. There are few films that find the ability to present a person's flaws and virtures (Patton would be one of the few). Look at films like Thirteen Days (which portrays Kennedy as being near godlike in his handling of the Cuban Missile Crisis) or Nixon (which presents that President as pratically the devil incarnate).

There are several reasons why I think that every American should see this film:

1) Despite the film's pro-Bush slant, the film is actually very accurate in its potrayal of what happened in the White House during 9/11 and in the week following the attack. The best source available on this subject is Bob Woodward's book, Bush at War. The book details the players, actions, and decisions of the Bush administration from the day of the attacks to the military operations in Afghanistan. Woodward had full access to White House documents and personnel to write his book. As anyone who is familiar with Woodward's work knows, he is not anyone political patsy. In fact, he later wrote a book, Plan of Attack, which has been touted by both Bush supporters and anti-Bush people as THE book to read on the administration's decisions leading up to the invasion of Iraq. The reason why I bring up Woodward's book, Bush at War, is because this film's potrayal of events line up extremely well with the facts laid out in Woodward's book, and with other documented accounts of the events. Therefore, despite its biases, the film is a great, factual look at how the President and his administration handled the crisis, which is a vital story for Americans to know about our recent history.

2) The film also give clear indications about how the Bush administration came to the course it took in handling the war on terror. The military operations in Afghanistan and Iraq, the Patriot Act, and other elements, are clearly forshadowed in the scenes involving meetings between the President and the National Security Council. As President Bush himself told his people in one of these meetings, "we are fighting an unconventional war against a very different kind of enemy. We have to start thinking in unconventional ways." The film also shows through these scenes the disputes within the administration over how broad the war should be prosecuted (Powell and Rumsfeld and their disagreements over Iraq, for example), and the weaknesses in America's intelligence community before 9/11. For example, in one scene, President Bush asks the directors of the CIA and FBI why they were not communicating with each other about the suspected terrorists effectively, one of them replied, "well, sir, our computers don't network with each other." Bush looked like he was about explode with frustration.

3) Timothy Bottoms did a fantastic job in potraying President Bush. He lacks Bush's pronounced Texas accent, but that was probably a decision on his part and that of the filmmakers to avoid any chance of his performance coming off as some comical impersonation. Instead, Bottoms performs the role of President Bush with a focus on copying his demeanor (hand jestures, posture, facial expressions) mixed in with a focus on the President's emotions and mind set. You get to see the personal side of Bush in those days, since the filmmakers interviewed Bush and those close to him to get a sense of his thoughts and feelings at that time. It really shows Bush as someone who developed a resolve to do everything he could to prevent another 9/11. One can argue about how he went about fighting the war on terror later, but few can doubt that his actions come from an internal impulse to never see another day like 9/11. A masterful performance that should have earned Bottoms an Emmy, and would have if it were not for the political bias of those in Hollywood.

This film masterfully captures an important moment in history through the point of view of the leadership in America the time it happened.

23 of 31 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars What an interesting look at 9/11, August 3, 2004

By	'Sound' Advice "Jack" (WA) - See all my reviews

What a shame that Amazon.com reviewer Bret Fetzer chose to look at the film in a political context rather than review it for the performances and technical achievement.

I first saw this film on Showtime and was pleasantly surprised by the performances, particularly those of Penny Johnson Jerald (of FOX's "24") as Condoleeza Rice, and Mary Gordon Murray as Laura Bush.

The intersplicing of real 9/11 footage with the filmmakers' shots is well done. And, while the end of the film could be seen as a campaign poster, the editing of the footage returns us to the reality that 3000 people lost their lives on September 11, 2001... which really is the point after all, isn't it?

20 of 28 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Politics Aside, good study in presidential command, September 13, 2004

By	Nicholas Walters (Houston, TX USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

If anyone who posted that this was such a bad movie, maybe you forgot what it felt like on 9/11. I guess if this is revisionism then the Discovery Channel and PBS are on the revisionist band wagon by showing a National Geographic Documentary on Air Force One, and a President and 9/11 special. This docudrama caught that day, showing the mistakes of the Phoenix memos, and the initial responses. Politics aside, this film shows The President's true feelings and that he did respond during those infamous 7 minutes. Let's try and leave politics out of a movie review. (...) Just remember this, if you were President what would you have done? Back to the DVD- the actors looked and sounded like the people. Bottoms did great as President Bush and Lawrence Pressman (coach in American Pie and in Winds of War on TV) was uncannily a double for Vice President Dick Cheney. It did not run too long and was well filmed. Regardless of party, it's one worth watching or at least renting. For future reference- this site should be a movie review site. Although it is the marketplace of ideas, no matter how unrelated they are to a MOVIE REVIEW.