I am a historian, but you don’t need a PhD to realize that Americans and Brits learn most of what we know about the world from the movies.When most people think about World War II, for example, we think about the first few minutes of Stephen Spielberg’s Saving Private Ryan, or this summer, we are discovering the critical role of the chief Allied meteorologist, Captain James Stagg, through the new film, Pressure.We learned all about Vietnam from Apocalypse Now, Full Metal Jacket and Platoon.
And Glory did more to make the Civil War feel accessible and immediate than even the best histories on that seminal conflict.Which is why it’s not only dispiriting but, frankly, deeply concerning that even now, a quarter of a century later, we’ve had so few movies about the attacks of September 11, 2001.9/11 IS BECOMING HISTORY.MY GENERATION MUST MAKE SURE AMERICA NEVER FORGETSThe final beam to be cut down at the World Trade Center is driven away on a truck shrouded in black as New York and New Jersey Port Authority Police salute during a ceremony to mark the end of the recovery effort on the site in New York, May 30, 2002.
The beam was the ceremonial last load to be taken from the site.The World Trade Centers collapsed when attacked by hijacked airplanes September 11, 2001.
REUTERS/Mike Segar MS (REUTERS/Mike Segar)True, Oliver Stone gave us World Trade Center, and Paul Greengrass United 93, both celebrations of ordinary Americans making extraordinary sacrifices on that fateful day.But other than these two dramas and a handful of notable documentaries, the great cultural machine that, for nearly a century, had told us the stories we needed to hear to make sense of ourselves and the world went largely silent.
In fact, the last feature film on 9/11 was made over a decade ago, with none currently in the pipeline.Why?It’s a fascinating question, one that’s likely to keep future historians busy.You can blame it on progressive sensibilities, a DEI mindset, and not want...