Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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46 of 58 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Puts together the entire story, November 2, 2005
This is the first documentary produced for television that links America's 9/11 event to the burgeoning army that defeated the Soviets in Afghanistan in 1980. That army came to be known as Al Quaeda. After defeating the Soviets this group of multinational mercenaires, led financially and spiritually by Osama bin Laden, decided to take on the other remaining world power, the United States. This is the linchpin for events from Sept. 11, 2001 and everything that has happened since that time.
This is a scintillating documentary told in allegorical detail of events around the world. It pinpoints the assassination of New York Rabbi Meir Kahane as the signature event that launched Al Quaeda's campaign in the United States. Kahane had been a Jewish leader in New York that rallied worldwide support and opinion against Soviet and Middle Eastern mistreatment of Jews with great success. His assassination was a new entry in modern history and a great success for Al Quaeda.
There is so much going on in this four-hour epic that it cannot be adequately described in a review. The first two hours authenticate the historic development of Al Quaeda and its plans to destroy the World Trade Center. The back two hours are a blow-by-blow account of events leading to 9/11. This film moves at a rapid pace and is far more engaging than the movie HBO showed in the middle of the night, "The Hamburg Cell", about the conspirators from 9/11 and their plotting in Germany.
I urge anyone that likes documentaries, American history, or good filmmaking to acquire this CD at the earliest possible moment. Until another production comes along that casts these events together in greater detail, with better production values and a beefier script, this will remain the authoriatative television documentary on this subject.
Kudos to the National Geographic Channel for producing this outstanding program and taking up the gauntlet dropped by The Discovery Channel and The Learning Channel, which formerly did this kind of programming well but now seem more interested in televising "reality" programs about police chases and motorcycle mechanics.
The National Geographic Channel, which is currently airing an equally outstanding documentary on the failures of hurricane Katrina, is now the best option on cable for this kind of ex post facto documentary. This film is its best work to date and should be in everyone's library that enjoys knowing what the hell is going on in the world.
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6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
The most amazing documentary I have ever seen!, December 23, 2007
I have about 12 9/11 DVDs and this one, without a doubt, is the best one. If you only want to buy one 9/11 DVD, this is the one you want.
There are 2 discs. Disc 1 is about 4 hours long and has 2 parts. The 1st part is a chronological run down of all of the known events leading to the 9/11 attacks. I have to admit that I was surprised how much National Geographic was able to put together. The 2nd part of disc 1 gives a minute by minute run down of all of the events that took place on the day of the attacks. Once again, I was surprised how much National Geographic was able to put together. You'll hear accounts from those on the planes (via recorded phone calls) and accounts from those who were near or on the floors of the Twin Towers that got hit by the planes. These accounts are chilling. There was about a solid hour during the 2nd part of disc 1 where I had the chills. You will be utterly speechless by the end of the 1st disc.
This is a DVD that every American should see because on 9/11 we all asked ourselves, "How could something like this have happened?" Well, this DVD answers that question and we really should pay attention to that answer so that it won't happen again. So many people could have prevented this tragedy and we didn't.
This DVD goes in to a great level of detail which I personally like, but someone with ADD or a short attention span may have a hard time sitting through a 4 hour-long documentary, though I personally was rivetted to my TV throughout all of disc 1. I recommend watching the 1st disc in 3 or 4 parts, though once you start watching the 2nd half, you will not be able to stop.
This DVD is amazing! I'm glad I bought it and I really think you should buy it, watch it and remember/learn how destructive hate can be and how important it is that we all do what we can to prevent this sort of thing, because it CAN happen again.
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34 of 47 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Amazing tragedy, November 12, 2005
This is a well-made documentary about the 9/11/2001 airline-based terrorist attacks against the World Trade Towers (successful), Pentagon (successful) and White House (unsuccessful).
I can't agree with the one-star conspiracy theorists that people who like this DVD are just gullible followers. You can hear Osama Bin Laden (translated) tell us the difference between his terrorist buddies and the USA is that we love life and they love death. Not too difficult to determine who the baddies are, eh?
The first disc provides background on terrorism in general and the individual 9/11 attackers specifically. The second disc focusses on the events of 9/11, alternating between the various hijacked aircraft and the ground targets. It also includes interviews with survivors and relatives of victims, and has a narrated still-photo gallery.
There are many 9/11 documentaries but I doubt any are better than this National Geographic effort.
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