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Watch “The Path to 9/11”

Posted by Richard on September 11, 2006

I hope that, like me, you’re getting ready to watch (or record) ABC’s docudrama, "The Path to 9/11", tonight (8 Eastern, 7 Central/Mtn.) and tomorrow. Judging from what I’ve seen and heard about it, this is a powerful, riveting drama with outstanding production values and acting. In other words, it’s well worth watching regardless of the politics.

Contrary to the Clinton camp and their friends on the left, it doesn’t strike me as unfair or biased against his administration (and they’ve flat-out lied about the 9/11 Commission report contradicting major points of the film; Behind Enemy Lines and Texas Rainmaker have some examples). It’s a fictionalization, after all — not every word spoken by every person is taken from the historical record. But the overall impressions it gives, the broad points, are clearly in line with that record. The 9/11 Commission chair was the technical advisor, after all.

The portrait of the Bush administration (and Condi Rice in particular) is equally unflattering — it’s just that they failed to do enough for 9 [correction] 8 months, while the Clintonistas failed to do enough for 8 years. Let’s face it — no administration did enough until 9/12/01. There’s plenty of blame to go around, at least back to the Reagan administration. But "The Path to 9/11" also makes it clear who the real villains are — the terrorists.

Aside from its intrinsic value as entertainment and the understanding of how 9/11 came about that you’ll get, there’s another compelling reason for watching: to support ABC against the contemptible intimidation attempted by Democratic senators with their barely veiled threats.

TigerHawk has more about the left’s over-the-top efforts against "The Path to 9/11," and he thinks those efforts are backfiring. I hope so.

UPDATE: Wow. The first half was stunning. Simply stunning. Forget all the controversy and the last-minute edits (although if you’re interested, Hot Air has the "before" and "after" video for comparison). Yes, Clinton, Albright, and Berger look bad — but they’re really only bit players. Setting them aside and judging "The Path to 9/11" as a drama, I believe it’s a tremendous achievement.

The acting, writing, cinematography — everything about it is first-class. Some scenes were achingly beautiful, others difficult to watch. Throughout, there was a level of intensity, excitement, and urgency that made watching a somewhat draining experience. For instance, we all know nothing happened on New Year’s Eve 1999 — yet, the scenes leading up to and at the Times Square celebration were absolutely gripping. When the scene switched to a celebration where O’Neil said, "we dodged a bullet," I felt the tension released as if a weight had been removed from my chest.

I can’t say enough good things about this film, and you couldn’t pay me to miss the conclusion Monday night. As soon as it’s available on DVD, I’ll buy it (I hope the original "uncensored" version gets released on DVD, but I’ll buy it either way). If you didn’t watch it, I hope you recorded it (or maybe ABC will offer a download). If not, I’d still strongly recommend watching the second half. Strongly recommend.
 

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2 Responses to “Watch “The Path to 9/11””

  1. VRB said

    Its interesting that sometimes what we see on TV can replace reality. There should not be a need to know everything. We all know how the events of September 11, 2001 effected our lives.

  2. Anonymous said

    I’m watching it right now and it is well done. Will have to sort out the truth later though.

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