In Memoriam, New York City 9/11/01 on DVD
By Jim Bray
HBOs documentary of that horrible day in the late summer of
2001 brings the massacre and its aftermath right into your home theater, and in
the process is virtually guaranteed to both move and anger the audience.
The program is made up of footage of then-New York City Mayor Rudy
Giuliani, who had a camera crew with him on what was supposed to be a fairly
slow day for him, relatively speaking. Its augmented by interviews after
the fact with Giuliani and his advisors, as well as with spectacular footage of
the days events as they happened, collected from scores of amateur and
professional photographers and videographers who were in the right (or is it
wrong?) place at the right (or is it wrong?) time.
This is an emotional, visceral experience as we once again see the
hijacked airliners-cum-missiles attack the World Trade Center - and thanks to
the audio capabilities of the Dolby Digital 5.1 soundtrack they (especially the
second missile) strike with a gut-wrenching BANG! that, while you
arent surprised to hear this sound in the distance, surprises you and
hits you between the eyes with its power.
Its all here, so far as the New York experience of the day
is concerned (at least so far as one can imagine from thousands of miles away),
and this DVD really deserves to be in every library lest we forget why the US
and its allies find themselves now plunged into a war we didnt want, but
that we must fight and win.
Audio and video quality are excellent, though of course the video
is presented in the 4x3 full screen aspect ratio that to date is still the most
common for television and video presentations. And since the source videos vary
in quality, so does the DVD's picture; ditto for the audio, though on the whole
both picture and sound are first rate. Theres also some excellent musical
accompaniment to the heart-rending visuals performed by the New York
Philharmonic conducted by Leonard Slatkin.
Extras are limited to a plea for donations to the fund to benefit
the victims families (profits from the DVD sales also go to the fund,
which is an excellent incentive to buy the disc), as well as an interactive map
of the area surround the WTC, with links to related audio/video clips.
Theres also a DVD ROM component that lets you look at the 9/11 Tribute
mosaic.
In Memoriam, from HBO Home Video
60 minutes, 4x3 fullscreen,
Dolby Digital Surround
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