UP CLOSE & PERSONAL (EXTREMELY LOUD & INCREDIBLY CLOSE)
About six months after the 9/11 attacks, David Trimble and Mark Durkan went to the Ground Zero site in New York.
The then First and Deputy First Minister visited the scene of the world's most infamous terrorist attack after meeting Michael McGimpsey's 26 year old nephew Jason and his colleagues in the Pride of Chelsea fire station.
After what was an emotional visit in which Jason told how he owed his life to five colleagues who lost their lives in the World Trade Centre, I and a number of other Belfast journalists accompanied the UUP and SDLP leaders to the viewing platform at Ground Zero.
As the search for victims' remains continued, many foreign dignitaries and relatives of those killed in the 9/11 attacks came to the platform to pay their respects.
First Minister Trimble and Deputy First Minister Durkan laid a wreath of white roses on behalf of the people of Northern Ireland.
New York was still reeling.
In Manhattan's magnificent Grand Central Station, a shrine to the missing remained as commuters from Poughkeepsie and Larchmont filed past.
In the TriBeCa district, the sellotape outlines of posters erected by those desperately trying to locate their loved ones could still be seen on the ground floor windows of skyscrapers.
And at the viewing platform at Ground Zero, teddy bears, flowers, messages and even the scan of an unborn baby were left as relatives struggled to come to terms with the horror of what happened that day.
Ten years on, the emotions remain raw. For my generation, 9/11 remains our JFK moment. No-one will forget where they were when the smoke stacks fell (to paraphrase The 4 of Us's brilliant 9/11 song 'Voice on the Radio').
I remember with great clarity where I was.
I sat in the office of the then Deputy First Minister Seamus Mallon in Stormont where we had planned to do an interview - the two of us watching CNN's coverage in stunned silence after the collapse of the first tower in World Trade Centre.
Needless to say the interview was shelved.
On the night when President George W Bush began his assault on Baghdad, I was in a hotel overlooking the Ground Zero site after spending three weeks in the US with a group of European journalists, academics and politicians in the build up to the war.
A Danish MP and I earlier had had the chilling experience of knowing exactly when the invasion of Iraq had begun when a section of the crowd at a New York Rangers ice hockey game began to chant "USA! uSA," in Madison Square Garden.
Later that night, as I channel hopped between MSNBC, CNN and Fox News in my room, Ground Zero was eerily quiet. The atmosphere in New York the following morning was grim, not triumphant.
It is because of these personal memories and the many stories of heroism and suffering from that day that I approach 9/11 movies with caution.The then First and Deputy First Minister visited the scene of the world's most infamous terrorist attack after meeting Michael McGimpsey's 26 year old nephew Jason and his colleagues in the Pride of Chelsea fire station.
After what was an emotional visit in which Jason told how he owed his life to five colleagues who lost their lives in the World Trade Centre, I and a number of other Belfast journalists accompanied the UUP and SDLP leaders to the viewing platform at Ground Zero.
As the search for victims' remains continued, many foreign dignitaries and relatives of those killed in the 9/11 attacks came to the platform to pay their respects.
First Minister Trimble and Deputy First Minister Durkan laid a wreath of white roses on behalf of the people of Northern Ireland.
New York was still reeling.
In Manhattan's magnificent Grand Central Station, a shrine to the missing remained as commuters from Poughkeepsie and Larchmont filed past.
In the TriBeCa district, the sellotape outlines of posters erected by those desperately trying to locate their loved ones could still be seen on the ground floor windows of skyscrapers.
And at the viewing platform at Ground Zero, teddy bears, flowers, messages and even the scan of an unborn baby were left as relatives struggled to come to terms with the horror of what happened that day.
Ten years on, the emotions remain raw. For my generation, 9/11 remains our JFK moment. No-one will forget where they were when the smoke stacks fell (to paraphrase The 4 of Us's brilliant 9/11 song 'Voice on the Radio').
I remember with great clarity where I was.
I sat in the office of the then Deputy First Minister Seamus Mallon in Stormont where we had planned to do an interview - the two of us watching CNN's coverage in stunned silence after the collapse of the first tower in World Trade Centre.
Needless to say the interview was shelved.
On the night when President George W Bush began his assault on Baghdad, I was in a hotel overlooking the Ground Zero site after spending three weeks in the US with a group of European journalists, academics and politicians in the build up to the war.
A Danish MP and I earlier had had the chilling experience of knowing exactly when the invasion of Iraq had begun when a section of the crowd at a New York Rangers ice hockey game began to chant "USA! uSA," in Madison Square Garden.
Later that night, as I channel hopped between MSNBC, CNN and Fox News in my room, Ground Zero was eerily quiet. The atmosphere in New York the following morning was grim, not triumphant.
The real life stories and images of 9/11 are so well known - the moments of impact as the planes struck the towers, the heroism of the passengers of Flight 97, the hopelessness of those who chose to jump from the skyscrapers, Fr Michael Judge's loyalty to the firefighters and cops who came to the rescue of people trapped in the World Trade Centre (a loyalty which would ultimately cost the chaplain his life).
There have also been some remarkable documentaries - not least French brothers Jules and Gedeon Naudet's extraordinary '9/11' which started out as a portrait of a rookie fireman but ended up being right in the centre of events on that terrifying day. It was broadcast by CBS to huge acclaim, with an introduction from Robert de Niro.
It is because of these vivid and powerful stories that we all bring baggage to 9/11 movies - some of us more than others.
To its credit Hollywood has not shied away from 9/11, tackling head on the events and aftermath of that horrific day.
Most notably, Oliver Stone gave us in 2006 a fireman's perspective of events in the Twin Towers with Nicolas Cage and Michael Pena starring in the touching 'World Trade Center'.
In the same year, Paul Greengrass (who gave us the excellent 'Bloody Sunday' with James Nesbitt) directed the stunning 'United '93' - recreating the story of those brave passengers who overcame 9/11 hijackers on a plane which eventually crashed in Shanksville, Pennsylvania.
Jim Simpson's 'The Guys' featured Sigourney Weaver and Anthony La Paglia in a big screen adaptation of an acclaimed play about a fire captain coming to terms with the loss of eight of his crew.
In Britain, director Antonia Bird also teamed up with Belfast novelist and scriptwriter Ronan Bennett for the intelligent Channel 4 drama 'The Hamburg Cell' about the Al-Qaida team behind the attacks.
And now English theatre and movie director Stephen Daldry has made an Oscar nominated movie based on a novel by Jonathan Safran Foer inspired by the 9/11 attacks.
'Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close' is narrated by 10 year old Oskar Schell (Thomas Horn), a deeply disturbed boy who has lost his father Thomas (Tom Hanks) in the Twin Towers.
Oskar is appalled that the coffin at his dad's funeral contains no body.
The boy, who has been tested for Asperger's Syndrome, is haunted by messages his father left on the family's answering machine on the day of the attacks (messages he has kept hidden away in a cupboard) and is obsessed by Thomas's claim that there was a sixth borough in New York.
One day while searching for his father's camera, Oskar discovers a key in an envelope marked 'Black' in an antique vase his father purchased just days before the attack.
He sets out on a quest to find what the key will open, convincing himself that it is the last mystery set by his father.
Oskar sets about meeting every person named Black in the five boroughs in the hope that they can help him solve the mystery and somehow reconnect him to his dad.
Along the way, he finds an unlikely confidante and co-conspirator in a man living with his grandmother (Zoe Caldwell) known as The Renter (Max von Sydow).
The Renter never utters a word but communicates through writing and has the words 'Yes' and 'No' scribbled on the palms of his hands.
Meanwhile Oskar's relationship with his grieving mother Linda (Sandra Bullock) is strained - so strained that at one point in a bitter argument he tells her that he wishes she and not his father had been in the Twin Towers.
Stephen Daldry has proven himself to be an astute and stylish filmmaker with three movies which have proven to be Oscar bait - 'Billy Elliot', 'The Hours' and 'The Reader'.
He has brought on board writer Eric Roth who penned the screenplays for 'Forrest Gump', 'The Curious Case of Benjamin Button' and 'The Insider' and together they deliver a challenging movie which at times disappoints and other times mesmerises, which sometimes packs a powerful punch and other times underwhelms.
Part of the problem is the narrative voice. The narrator is a boy who is very hard to warm to - despite his suffering. Daldry asks an awful lot of Thomas Horn as Oskar, possibly too much.
He has to carry the entire movie - no mean feat even for an experienced actor - and he struggles, particularly in the first third of the film.
However he elicits strong supporting performances from Sandra Bullock who downplays her usual screen persona as Oskar's shattered mum, Jeffrey Wright and Viola Davis as a couple whose marriage is in turmoil and John Goodman as Stan the Doorman.
However the standout performance belongs to the veteran Swedish actor Max Von Sydow as The Renter - a silent performance to rival Jean Dujardin's in 'The Artist'.
After a slow start, Daldry's movie picks up the pace when Oskar meets Von Sydow's character.
With only a notepad to verbalise his thoughts, Von Sydow uses the subtlest of facial expressions to convey emotions and produces moments of real tenderness and vulnerability as The Renter bonds with the boy.
Von Sydow will probably lose out in the Best Supporting Actor category at the Academy Awards to another veteran Christopher Plummer but is well worth his nomination.
Tom Hanks is, well, doing what Tom Hanks does best - playing an affable dad in what is effectively a supporting role.
For much of the film he is a voice on the other end of a telephone in the Twin Towers and in one powerful flashback, Bullock's character Linda watches helplessly from her office as the smoke bellows from the towers while her husband, uncertain and fearful about his ability to escape and survive, is on the other end of the line.
Daldry shows some wonderful stylistic flourishes - there is a dizzying montage of city images and sound as a fearful Oskar wanders the streets of Manhattan embarking on his quest while ranting in the voiceover about New York.
Throughout the movie there is a smart use of slow motion and amplified noise to capture the boy's inner turmoil.
He is aided and abetted by veteran Chris Menges' smart cinematography and some intelligent film editing by Claire Simpson.
However at times the pace of the movie sags and it is hard sometimes not to feel Daldry is sailing very close to accusations of heavy handed manipulation.
'Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close' has Oscar contender written all over it and it is no real surprise that Academy voters shortlisted it for Best Motion Picture.
However it is too flawed to justify a surprise win.
It will be interesting to see how a morose movie preoccupied with the process of grief will perform at a box office dominated by much lighter fare.
'Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close' is aptly named and bravely tackles difficult subjects but it fails to reach the consistency of a movie like Peter Weir's accomplished plane crash drama 'Fearless'.
Withf Jeff Bridges in the lead role, Weir's underrated movie (one of the best studio films of the 1990s) dealt with similar topics powerfully with remarkable grace and an even greater technical flourish.
Most notably, Oliver Stone gave us in 2006 a fireman's perspective of events in the Twin Towers with Nicolas Cage and Michael Pena starring in the touching 'World Trade Center'.
In the same year, Paul Greengrass (who gave us the excellent 'Bloody Sunday' with James Nesbitt) directed the stunning 'United '93' - recreating the story of those brave passengers who overcame 9/11 hijackers on a plane which eventually crashed in Shanksville, Pennsylvania.
Jim Simpson's 'The Guys' featured Sigourney Weaver and Anthony La Paglia in a big screen adaptation of an acclaimed play about a fire captain coming to terms with the loss of eight of his crew.
In Britain, director Antonia Bird also teamed up with Belfast novelist and scriptwriter Ronan Bennett for the intelligent Channel 4 drama 'The Hamburg Cell' about the Al-Qaida team behind the attacks.
And now English theatre and movie director Stephen Daldry has made an Oscar nominated movie based on a novel by Jonathan Safran Foer inspired by the 9/11 attacks.
'Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close' is narrated by 10 year old Oskar Schell (Thomas Horn), a deeply disturbed boy who has lost his father Thomas (Tom Hanks) in the Twin Towers.
Oskar is appalled that the coffin at his dad's funeral contains no body.
The boy, who has been tested for Asperger's Syndrome, is haunted by messages his father left on the family's answering machine on the day of the attacks (messages he has kept hidden away in a cupboard) and is obsessed by Thomas's claim that there was a sixth borough in New York.
One day while searching for his father's camera, Oskar discovers a key in an envelope marked 'Black' in an antique vase his father purchased just days before the attack.
He sets out on a quest to find what the key will open, convincing himself that it is the last mystery set by his father.
Oskar sets about meeting every person named Black in the five boroughs in the hope that they can help him solve the mystery and somehow reconnect him to his dad.
Along the way, he finds an unlikely confidante and co-conspirator in a man living with his grandmother (Zoe Caldwell) known as The Renter (Max von Sydow).
The Renter never utters a word but communicates through writing and has the words 'Yes' and 'No' scribbled on the palms of his hands.
Meanwhile Oskar's relationship with his grieving mother Linda (Sandra Bullock) is strained - so strained that at one point in a bitter argument he tells her that he wishes she and not his father had been in the Twin Towers.
Stephen Daldry has proven himself to be an astute and stylish filmmaker with three movies which have proven to be Oscar bait - 'Billy Elliot', 'The Hours' and 'The Reader'.
He has brought on board writer Eric Roth who penned the screenplays for 'Forrest Gump', 'The Curious Case of Benjamin Button' and 'The Insider' and together they deliver a challenging movie which at times disappoints and other times mesmerises, which sometimes packs a powerful punch and other times underwhelms.
Part of the problem is the narrative voice. The narrator is a boy who is very hard to warm to - despite his suffering. Daldry asks an awful lot of Thomas Horn as Oskar, possibly too much.
He has to carry the entire movie - no mean feat even for an experienced actor - and he struggles, particularly in the first third of the film.
However he elicits strong supporting performances from Sandra Bullock who downplays her usual screen persona as Oskar's shattered mum, Jeffrey Wright and Viola Davis as a couple whose marriage is in turmoil and John Goodman as Stan the Doorman.
However the standout performance belongs to the veteran Swedish actor Max Von Sydow as The Renter - a silent performance to rival Jean Dujardin's in 'The Artist'.
After a slow start, Daldry's movie picks up the pace when Oskar meets Von Sydow's character.
With only a notepad to verbalise his thoughts, Von Sydow uses the subtlest of facial expressions to convey emotions and produces moments of real tenderness and vulnerability as The Renter bonds with the boy.
Von Sydow will probably lose out in the Best Supporting Actor category at the Academy Awards to another veteran Christopher Plummer but is well worth his nomination.
Tom Hanks is, well, doing what Tom Hanks does best - playing an affable dad in what is effectively a supporting role.
For much of the film he is a voice on the other end of a telephone in the Twin Towers and in one powerful flashback, Bullock's character Linda watches helplessly from her office as the smoke bellows from the towers while her husband, uncertain and fearful about his ability to escape and survive, is on the other end of the line.
Daldry shows some wonderful stylistic flourishes - there is a dizzying montage of city images and sound as a fearful Oskar wanders the streets of Manhattan embarking on his quest while ranting in the voiceover about New York.
Throughout the movie there is a smart use of slow motion and amplified noise to capture the boy's inner turmoil.
He is aided and abetted by veteran Chris Menges' smart cinematography and some intelligent film editing by Claire Simpson.
However at times the pace of the movie sags and it is hard sometimes not to feel Daldry is sailing very close to accusations of heavy handed manipulation.
'Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close' has Oscar contender written all over it and it is no real surprise that Academy voters shortlisted it for Best Motion Picture.
However it is too flawed to justify a surprise win.
It will be interesting to see how a morose movie preoccupied with the process of grief will perform at a box office dominated by much lighter fare.
'Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close' is aptly named and bravely tackles difficult subjects but it fails to reach the consistency of a movie like Peter Weir's accomplished plane crash drama 'Fearless'.
Withf Jeff Bridges in the lead role, Weir's underrated movie (one of the best studio films of the 1990s) dealt with similar topics powerfully with remarkable grace and an even greater technical flourish.
('Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close' opened in the Movie House and other UK and Irish cinemas on February 17, 2012. This review originally appeared on Eamonnmallie.com)
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