Ian & Jocelyn Barker

Jocelyn and I watched a documentary on 9/11 last night. It was meant to be a documentary on a rookie NYC fireman and they started filming this rookie in July of 2001. It turned out to be a much bigger piece. The makers of the documentary were two brothers from France and one of the brother’s actually filmed the first plane going into the building. He immediately followed the firemen he was with to the WTC and filmed the chaos.

I was expecting to see some amazingly heroic things by the firemen. After all, the New York City firemen are applauded for their bravery and heroism. But it’s interesting to see how confused and lost they are as they try and figure out what is going on and how to save the people in the building without elevators. After the first tower collapsed, the evacuation call goes out and the rest of the documentary is covering the insanity, disbelief, and shock of the event.

It was amazing to me that there was only one reference to God, one reference to evil, and one reference to wanting to make life better after it was over. One of the brothers filmed on the street as people stopped and stared, and then started running. People wanted revenge almost immediately. Regarding the rookie fireman, his conclusion was that he wanted to either be a fireman the rest of his life or be in the army. After seeing what he saw, he would have no problem going to war and killing if that is what his country wanted him to do.

Allen Hood always says that in a moment of crisis, what is really inside of a person will manifest. That is what happened. Humanistic pride and self-assertion. Revenge and anger. Good sentiment but turning to the power source of that love and desire for change. Though that was the feeling of our country, the chaos and confusion aptly contradicted our feeling of strength.

Just so you know, there is a section that contains a lot of swearing. Mostly because firemen are in shock which reveals the human heart as well.