In the Shadow of the Towers: Stuyvesant High on 9/11 (2019 TV Movie) User Reviews

Stuyvesant HS alumni reflect on what happened on 9/11

[paul-allaer · 7/10 · 12 September 2019]

This year marks the 18th anniversary of the 9/11 terrorist attacks, and per the usual, there are a number of new documentaries to mark the occasion. One of those is this short documentary, now showing on HBO On Demand.

"In the Shadow of the Towers: Stuyvesant High on 9/11" (2019 release; 31 min.) brings the accounts of a handful of Stuyvesant High School kids (interviewed all these years later) who lived through the events of 9/11. As the documentary opens, we are given a very short introduction to Stuyvesant HS, located just a few blocks south of the World Trade Centers, and how it attracts the best and brightest kids from all over New York, with a particular emphasis on second generation immigrants: kids whose parents came to the US to pursue the American dream. Among the Stuyvesant kids we get to know, their parents hail from Ukraine, Pakistan, India, Korea, and yes, the Bronx (a foreign country--wink, wink--within the New York boroughs),

The first-hand accounts by those high school kids of what happened on 9/11 are gripping: a "swell of emotion" when the second plane hits the Towers, confusion whether it is safer to stay inside the building or to flee, etc. When you combine that with the still unbelievable camera footage of that day, it makes for compelling viewing (check the dust clouds mushrooming over Manhattan after the Towers crumble). "It was life-altering as a person and as a nation", comments one of them (all are now in their early-to-mid 30's). If there is one complaint that I have about this documentary, it is that at a mere half-hour, it easily could've been extended to an hour or even more, as each of the Stuyvesant are interesting to listen to, and I would've enjoyed more of these conversations.

Good documentary

[nicorip22 · 6/10 · 11 September 2021]

Good documentary with very tough testimonies. Very hard what happened.

Very good and heartbreaking documentary

[UniqueParticle · 8/10 · 12 September 2019]

This is quite interesting and beyond devastating! The stories these young kids tell is soul crushing, on top of the fact that it's Stephanie Chow one of the ones in it died fom cancer at cancer 32 after filming wrapped; I wanted to cry.

Lacks the competence and significance the subject deserves, instead focuses too much on political agendas today

[Horst_In_Translation · 4/10 · 26 September 2019]

"In the Shadow of the Towers: Stuyvesant High on 9/11" is a really long title for a relatively short film and still it is pretty telling what it is about, namely the events of Septemer 11th 2001. The director is Amy Schatz, a seven-time Emmy winner already, who is mostly known for her children's programs for television. Now this HBO production we got here is definitely rather for grown-ups, especially those grown-ups who were already alive back in autumn 2001 and preferrably old enough to remember the tragic events that happened this day. Like myself, even if I witnessed everything from a totally different corner of the world, who will never forget this day ever. But away from me now and instead lets talk a bit about the protagonists in this documentary that runs for slightly over half an hour. Here we have students from Stuyvesant High back then who witnesses the events with their own eyes outside their school. That's basically all we have here. Interviews with these students who are now in their early 30s and how they remember this fateful day, also one interview with one of them when they were interviewed right after the events and considerably young. Can't believe it's almost 20 yikes. How time flies by. So yeah as for the interviewees, some I liked the way they talked about it all and they felt real and authentic and not the need to tell it in an over-the-top way. The event is so memorable that this was not necessary at all anyway. But others do and I did not enjoy listening to them at all I must say. But it probably all comes down to subjective and personal perception who you find more captivating here. You don't hear an interviewer and that's certainly a good thing. It should not feel like a talk show and you care about the contents enough also without hearing the exact questions asked. In addition to these interviews, we see old photos from the students and also from some of their family. And of course, that is really self-explanatory we also have footage of the attacks itself, like the one really famous recording that has been shown in documentaries thousands of times with this particular angle of how the plane hits the tower. Or also as we see people running away from the gigantic dust clouds after one of the towers collapsed. These video recordings will certainly be nothing new to you if you have seen other documentaries on the subject.

But as you can see from my rating, I was not too happy with the thing as a whole. I mentioned some issues I had with the interviewees already, but these were not key to my negative rating. More crucial to me was how they really felt the need to make this film as politically correct as possible for the year 2019. On several occasions we hear how muslims were attacked and insulted back then and are still attacked today because of what happened on 9/11. Now I don't want to say the interviewees lied, but lets just say it fits in really in a most convenient way. The connection is just too random for me anyway. The film should be exactly about what happened that exact day, maybe really personal experiences also from the days after and that's why I can deal with the story about the girl who got insulted or also the guy we see on the photos being killed that day, even if he has no real link to Stuyvesant, but comments like today there is still the same amount of hatred against muslims as there was back then nas no right to existence in this film in my opinion and it just feels like a shoddy and really clumsy attempt to create contemporary relevance. Not needed. Everybody who experienced 9/11, even if it was like myself thousands of miles away, does not need references to today, especially if comments like these fuel additional hatred while being wrapped in pseudo tolerance. Okay you know what I mean if you watch this one. No need to go any further into detail. As for what I liked and there was quite a bit too was near the end when we have the (almost) bald guy tell us how he talks to his children every year on 9/11 and explains them what happened back then and we see these blue light effects there. That was nicely done, even if of course you don't know either if it's really true, but lets just believe him. Otherwise he will deal with his kids' wrath anyway at some point why he lies on camera. And what I found really sad is to read about the death of Catherine Choy at the very end because she was perhaps the one person who gave a really rational and yet interesting and charming take on things back then. My condolences to her family, even if I must say the way they mentioned her passing did feel a bit for the sake of it all. Maybe I'm wrong I don't know. If her family is fine with that, then I said nothing. Overall, I think this documentary was per se not a bad idea, but the execution sometimes feels really weak. It would have needed more subtlety and sometimes less is even more. Schatz should have let the topic speak for itself instead of shoving her personal political agenda into our faces. With that I am mostly referring to the (almost compulsory these days) anti-Trump message for sure. I don't know. Probably with Schatz' and HBO's awards recognition in the past, this is one early potential Oscar winner nominee in the Documentary Short category for the 2020 ceremony. I personally don't hope it gets in there though because it would not be a worthy nominee, let alone winner. Thumbs down.