Zack and I went and saw The World Trade Center today.

Movie of the year.

Absolutely as good as all the reviews have said.  At least half the movie consists of close ups of two faces peering out of the dust and debris, unable to move.  That sounds like it would be dull, but it's gripping and tense and moving.  Occassionally it's even funny.

Because it's the story of these two survivors and the families waiting to hear what happened to them, the movie barely touches on the attacks.  Jimeno and MacLoughlin didn't know just what had happened when they entered the first tower.  They were under the impression that a plane had accidentally hit the building.  Rumors of other attacks filtered in to them while they were working but they were too busy to speculate as to what exactly was happening.  As far as I can remember, the word 'terrorist' isn't mentioned in the film at all.

And that's fine.

This isn't the story of the evil that was committed on September 11, it's the other story of that day. 

It's the story of the  good that rose up spontaneously out of millions of Americans in response to the tragedy.  It's about the men and women who ran to the burning buildings, putting themselves at risk for the sake of strangers.  It's about those who put their own lives aside to go help in any way they could.  It's about the accumulated acts of heroism, both large and small that for me, symbolised America that day. 

It's what no one expected to come out of our cynical, jaded society, but like Christmas for the Grinch, it came.  It came just the same.  Our enemies meant to hurt us on September 11, and they did.  What they don't realize is what this movie is all about: America's heart grew three sizes that day.

Which is why we didn't nuke them to dust the next.