ABC/Disney's "The Path to 9/11": Legally Dull
In case you aren't connected to the latest partisan bickering, here's the 411: ABC, owned by Disney, is showing a 5-hour miniseries, The Path to 9/11, on September 10 and 11, that purports to dramatize the true story of the politics and events that allowed the September 11, 2001 tragedies to occur.
Led by conservative radio-personality and self-serving hysteric Hugh Hewitt, a handful of rightwingers have been plugging the program as The Truth. Ever ready to take the bait, the liberal blogosphere spent last week alternately protesting and whining about the unseen TV fare. Bill Clinton and Madeleine Albright decried the show's accuracy, and the New York Times reports that the DNC collected 200,000 signatures protesting the program.
The Path to 9/11 was created and produced by Marc Platt Productions, whose best-known credits include teen-girl flicks Legally Blonde, Legally Blonde 2, and Josie and the Pussycats.
My evaluation of part 1 of the Disney program? Legally dull and silly, with nary a dizzy blonde nor Pussycat Doll in sight. But plenty of snarky Monica Lewinsky references, and even grainy, gratuitous news footage of Bill's former flame.
Here's the real-deal, hard-to-believe scoop...
The Path to 9/11 was classic Disney... a live-action cartoon complete with heroic white men (in suits) and a token white heroine (in a skirted suit), brooding Middle Eastern men, very artful and pretty photography, and oodles of dramatic background music.
The heroic white people, led by Harvey Keitel, spoke mainly in hushed, rushed voices with slight movie-Mafioso accents. They also occasionally ate together in a style strongly reminiscent of Steven Spielberg's epic film, Munich. Once in a great while, the white people smiled, laughed or cried.
All scenes set in the Middle East or in Middle Eastern neighborhoods and homes in the US showed teeming masses of dark-skinned people dressed in musty, dirty tones of brown and mustard; living in poverty, disorganization, stress and dust; and usually toting weapons. Middle East scenes were backed by spooky snake-charmer music, and pulsated with the ethnic-stereotype energy of Disney's 1992 Aladdin animated tale.
The dark-skiinned people only smiled or laughed at Evil. I remember one young, pretty dark-skinned mother crying. She looked a tad like a poor Princess Jasmine.
The first hour, which had no discernible plot, set the program's tone with lots fear-inducing close-ups: of fire and flames, of guns, of blood and bloodied faces, and abrupt flashbacks to one man's traumatizing torture by Egyptians.
Bill Clinton was seen on-screen briefly and only in news footage. Several Monica references were worked into the script, including Clinton's "I have not had sex with that woman..." diatribe and actual footage of a surprisingly svelte Lewinsky.
My favorite cartoon-like character was Madeleine Albright, who was cast as a tart-tongued Cruella Devil in a red wig and State Department digs.
Yes, there were a few minor references to Clinton and Albright not taking out Osama Bin Laden when given the chance. I'm a Democrat, so I'll assume this boring docudrama has those facts wrong. Truthfully, I'm not sure there were any facts in this admitted piece of fiction. (Exactly what is a docudrama, anyway?)
My bottom-line take on The Path to 9/11 is this: I want my 3 hours back. It's hard to imagine that Democrats frittered valuable pre-election time on this forgettable program.
Maybe Path was a big ratings hit for ABC because of all the pre-airing hullabaloo. (Was Hewitt paid by ABC to stir up the ranks? That, at least, would make sense.) But my guess is that a rerun of Desperate Housewives should have easily won the ratings battle.
Tonight
The second half of The Path to 9/11, the part that should be critical of the Bush Administration, airs tonight from 8 to 10 PM... but I understand that President Bush's 9/11 speech will preempt most it. (Wow... I'm shocked. Not!)
As for me and my house, we'll be watching the Los Angeles Angels take on the Chicago White Sox.
Related Reading
Controversies Arise as Films Shape 9/11 Mythology
Aladdin DVD Review: A Magic Carpet Ride, About.com's guide to Classic Movies
How Disney Exploited 9/11 by Boring Us , at Liberal Comment: Home of the Vast Left Wing Conspiracy
More Questions of Accuracy Raised About ABC Mini-Series on 9/11 Prelude , New York Times, September 12, 2006
Democrats Maintain Pressure on 9/11 Film
Comments
I have to say that I think it’s horrifically tacky to drudge up Monica in regards to 9/11.
I mean come on, Clinton was at least hanging around his office late night working and took a break, on 9/11 wasn’t Bush playing golf on his 80th day of vacation?
Personally the whole 9/11 film serious is absolutely horrendous. Instead of making documentaries and films about it, why don’t people try to think about how to stop it from happening again? Or educate Americans on what made people so made in a non-blame-game way.
I can appreciate the levels on which you observed the film. Thanks for reporting. Of course, I never expected it to be anything but the worst tripe and hype possible.
If it’s incorrect, then what’s all the hoopla about? As an undecided voter, I’d like to make my own decisions.
No one seemed to have a problem censoring farenheit 9/11, so what’s the big deal?