Detour on the Path to 9/11

By Kanrei

ABC is going to edit “The Path to 9/11” after all the protest over the factual inaccuracies. Even a star of the movie has come out and said it should be fixed, so it appears the RPS people were right this time in some ways, but still wrong in others.

I submitted the story to Blogcritics.org and they accepted it. A member there posted a very interesting comment that really makes me unhappy ABC decided to re-edit the film on some levels.

“If the next 9/11 movie hints at a left wing "it's Bush's fault" spin on the events, the right wing bloggers will riot. You don't see this type of outrage for movies that take artistic license with older historical events.”

That sums it up. It is too soon for a fictional story based on 9/11. That is the only real issue with this movie. The fact that it is fiction makes it no different than “Nixon”, “JFK”, “Pearl Harbor”, or any other historical epic. “Based on a true story” is one of the oldest sales ploys in the Hollywood marketing book. If you get don’t mad that “Texas Chainsaw Massacre” is not really a true story then you should not get mad at this not being true. It is just too soon.

An event like 9/11 needs a proper mourning time before it can be fictionalized. My eyes still tear up when I see the footage of that day so I am not ready to see a movie about it. The wounds are still fresh in all of us and the political atmosphere is too unyielding for such a movie to be on broadcast television. That does not mean it should be edited.

When “The Reagans” was criticized for its inaccuracies and people demanded CBS not show it, CBS did what I thought was a cowardly move at the time. They pulled the movie and showed it on Showtime instead. It appeared they caved into the pressure, but I realize now they stood up for the movie instead. They refused to change the film and had it shown for a more accepting audience. ABC is the one caving in to the pressure. ABC is the one editing their movie instead of standing by their film makers.

Had this been a movie about how Bush screwed up and 9/11 was his fault, the blogcritics poster was correct and the sides would be reversed. The left would be cheering this movie like they did “Fahrenheit 9/11” and the right would hate it like the ADL hated “Passions of the Christ”. Political slants are standing in the way of basic American rights and this time the mob wins.

Some of the points the movie brings up seem to be accurate as well. In 1998 Clinton was distracted by the impeachment and his actions were limited by it. Everyone did scream “no bombs for Monica” when he approved a bombing three days after his impeachment began. I voted for him and I was screaming it. Had he said we had to invade Afghanistan to get some guy named Osama at that time he would have been rode out of town by both parties. It consumed his second term. It neutered him and not in the way he should have been.

People are concerned that other people will believe this movie as fact and that justifies censoring it. They once again use the children as a reason. I don’t buy it. I believe that this movie makes us discuss the events of that day. It provides a forum to compare it to the actual footage of the day. It will make people discuss their feelings on it at work and on the bus. It would keep the subject alive.

It claims to be based on the 9/11 Commission Report. That means that copies of that book would begin selling like crazy all over the world and everyone would learn the actual events. There is even a comic book version of it out, so the kids would even read it.

It was a wonderful opportunity for discussion on that day, or it would have had it aired. Now we are discussing censorship and ABC’s political loyalty on the five year anniversary of 9/11. Have we forgotten everything that day had to teach us?

If they attacked us because they hate our freedoms, how exactly is our destroying our basic rights showing them they failed? ABC has the right to show a fictional movie about 9/11 and they have the right to sell it anyway they choose. They also have the right to suffer any economic consequences. It is up to everyone of us to correct the mistaken ideas.

The really ironic part is that President Bush is giving a speech on Monday, 9/11 and has requested time from ABC to show the speech. This is right in the middle of their commercial free broadcast. All of this bad press and they will probably not even get to air it.

Isn't that ironic. Don't ya think?