What to Watch: Powerful Movies to Honor and Reflect on 9/11

WORLD TRADE CENTER tells the story of two New York City Port Authority officers on Sept. 11, who get trapped underneath the rubble of the World Trade Center, and the reactions of their families. WORLD TRADE CENTER is a stirring, suspenseful, patriotic, and ultimately inspiring portrayal of a sobering day in America’s history. It contains a very strong Christian worldview with very strong morally uplifting, pro-family content, but its major drawback is too much foul language.

UNITED 93 is a tense, emotionally powerful docudrama about the Islamic terrorist attacks on 9/11, which focuses on the American passengers of Flight 93, the East Coast flight controllers and the Flight 93 terrorists. Many Americans probably are still not ready to relive the terrible events of that day, but UNITED 93 is a brilliant, realistic portrayal of what happened that contains, however, plenty of strong foul language and tense, emotional scenes which may be too disturbing for many.

ZERO DARK THIRTY is about the killing of Usama bin Ladin, the leader of Al Qaeda. It focuses on one American female agent’s obsession with finding the terrorist leader, despite timid officials in Washington. ZERO DARK THIRTY is powerful and patriotic, but you never see the villain until the end, and there’s many strong obscenities and intense violence.

12 STRONG is a war movie about America’s first skirmishes with the Taliban and al-Qaeda in Afghanistan in 2001 and 2002, with strong patriotic content and values. 12 STRONG could have been a great movie if it had not meandered so much and presented too much foul language and so many references to the Muslim faith without much Christian or biblical faith.

EXTREMELY LOUD AND INCREDIBLY CLOSE is a very powerful movie about the impact of 9/11 on a 9-year-old boy who lost his father and finds a mysterious key that may lead to a special message from his dad. Despite some slurred foul language and lying, EXTREMELY LOUD AND INCREDIBLY CLOSE is a stirring, profound, remarkable, and uplifting movie with a lot of heart.

THE PATH TO 9/11, a TV show airing in September, tells the story of what led up to the terrorist destruction of the World Trade Center in 2001, starting with the WTC bombing in 1993. THE PATH TO 9/11 is a fascinating story with a strong Christian worldview and very strong conservative, moral elements. It is some of the best television that has been produced in years.

REIGN OVER ME is a drama about a New York dentist helping his former college roommate cope with the death of his family on 9/11. Alternately funny, sad, warm, and insightful, REIGN OVER ME is uplifting at times, but it contains lots of strong foul language, some crude sexual talk and no positive references to God or Jesus Christ, the ultimate Divine Power who wants to help us solve our problems.