Far too many people try to make 9/11 all about them, even though they just watched on television. That is not true of the subjects of this History special. They were there, working in the World Trade Center. Viewers hear their survival stories and see visual recreations of the harrowing events they witnessed, inside the buckling walls of the Twin Towers in 102 Minutes Inside the Towers, directed and produced by Grace Chapman, which premieres tonight on History [Channel].
Ironically, some of the survivors knew less about the events unfolding than those watching breaking news, because they were trapped inside, cut-off from the outside world. However, what they saw was inconceivably shocking, like the first plane Rob Chess saw flying straight into the North Tower, only a few floors above him. Simultaneously, Lolita Jackson watched it happen from the South Tower, while sitting in a morning meeting.
As the title suggests, 102 Minutes uses its participants testimony to assemble a minute-by-minute chronicle, from the first impact to the final tower collapse. The visual effects are eerily realistic looking and quite dramatic. Viewers see the smoke, the fire, and the dead-end death traps caused by debris and structural damage. It is especially intense to watch the images generated for Harry Waizer, as he recalls the fireball that shot through the elevator door to engulf his face. (According to doctors, his glasses most likely saved his eyesight.)
Nevertheless, some of the most heartrending moments do not involve special effects. The really tough stuff are the honest, raw emotions expressed by survivors like Felipe Oyola, who never saw his wife and Fuji Bank co-worker Adianes again after they were separated in the chaos. There is also the courage of first-responders like Port Authority Police Officer David Lim, who remembers guiding panicked tenants to safety, as the first uniformed responder to enter the lobby. Soon, he headed up, evacuating tenants, floor by floor, until he encountered a frail woman, whom carried out of the crumbling building.
It turns out one of participants, Lolita Jackson, happens to be someone I knew from a Manhattan civic club, but it has been several years since we last crossed paths. You should listen to her and all her eloquent fellow survivors, because what they have to say is important. As Jackson points out, the students she now teaches were all born after 2001. Younger generations simply do not understand the significance of those acts of terror. At least 102 Minutes will help them grasp the enormity of 9/11, if they take the time to watch it. Frankly, any viewer of good conscience will be touched by the accounts it compiles. Very highly recommended, 102 Minutes Inside the Towers premieres tonight (the 25th anniversary of 9/11), on History.