Video

NEW YORK FIREFIGHTERS: THE BROTHERHOOD OF SEPTEMBER 11TH

Running time: 52 minutes, for the Discovery Channel This beautifully produced documentary reverently looks at the small family of people in Rescue 3, a fire rescue company in the Bronx, who lost eight members in the 9/11 devastation. From everything that took place at the Twin Towers on 9/11, this film takes a narrow lens and penetrates the horror of it all, focusing in on the heroism and the humanity of a few dedicated men. Afterwards, the surviving members of Rescue 3 are left to cope with the loss of their fallen brothers. Yet amidst the painful reminders of funerals, widows, and fatherless children, the men of Rescue 3 endure.


REBUILDING GROUND ZERO: ENGINEERING THE FUTURE

Running time: 52 minutes, for the Discovery Channel
What's to be done with the site on which the World Trade Center once stood? New York city planners, architects and community leaders struggled - with tact and appropriate delicacy - to devise a structure that paid homage to the thousands of lives lost and a land-use solution that satisfied all interests. With animated graphics we get an awesome forward look not only at Ground Zero, but the changes in the underground trains and subway lines. Now, with the recent announcement that Daniel Libeskind has won the worldwide architectural design competition, work can begin in earnest to rebuild the World Trade Center - as well as a wide swath of downtown Manhattan. Using the very latest materials and energy sources - as well as taking into account the structural and technical problems exposed by the disaster - architects plan one of the most progressive, gutsy buildings every conceived.


THE STATUE OF LIBERTY

Running time: 65 minutes
The Statue of Liberty, produced by Ken Burns in 1985, is really two stories: the story of the making of a remarkable work of art, the Statue of Liberty, but also the story of the idea of liberty. For more than 100 years, the Statue of Liberty has been a symbol of hope and refuge for generations of immigrants. In this lyrical, compelling and provocative portrait of the statue, Ken Burns explores both the history of America's premier symbol and the meaning of liberty itself. Featuring archival photographs, paintings and drawings, readings from actual diaries, letters, and newspapers of the day, the story of this universally admired monument is told.


THOMAS L. FRIEDMAN REPORTING: SEARCHING FOR THE ROOTS OF 9/11

Running time: 52 minutes, produced by Discovery
Thomas L. Friedman, three-time Pulitzer Prize-winning New York Times columnist, tries to answer two of the most puzzling questions to come out of 9/11: What drove young, middle-class Muslim men to give up their lives to murder almost 3,000 people? And - perhaps more important - why does their violent act elicit so much support from millions of ordinary Muslims throughout the world? He searches out the answers in the Middle East, where the contradictory feelings of so many Muslims are laid bare: admiration for America's freedom and standard of living, combined with anger at what they see as arrogant behavior in that part of the world.