The Struggles They Faced After That Day
These are the first few moments of “Rebirth,” a documentary film about the years-long journey of five people whose lives were shattered by the events of 9/11. Amid the plays, documentaries, novels and other works of art created in the wake of that September day, “Rebirth” stands <a href="http://www.couponcatch.net/ "><strong>discount coupons </strong></a> out by capturing what happened next, for years. It is a record of recovery, without narration, graphic images or expert opinions, but shot through with the poetry of deeply felt emotions. “Rebirth,” which will be released theatrically on Friday in Los Angeles and Boston and on Aug. 31 in New York before being broadcast on Sept. 11 on Showtime, was directed by Jim Whitaker. He might be better known as an executive; he was president of motion pictures for Imagine Entertainment, where he served as executive producer for films like “8 Mile” and “Changeling,” and is now the chairman of Whitaker Entertainment, which produces feature films for Disney. But he began his career making documentaries to raise money for nonprofit organizations. “The film, for me, has been about the day after, about moving forward and hope, the resilience that I thought could be seen,” said Mr. Whitaker, who conducted all the interviews in the film from 2002 though 2009. He came up with the idea while touring ground zero a few months after his own mother’s death. “There was a certain freedom in not having a predetermined notion of where you’re going and how everyone’s stories will turn out,” said Mr. Whitaker, 43. “I believed that if I could capture in the moment what they were feeling, that would in itself be dramatic.” It is. Ling Young, the badly scarred woman, suffered second- and third-degree burns on her face and body when a plane hit the World Trade Center tower where she worked for the New York State Department of Taxation and Finance. Tanya Villanueva Tepper, who owned a Jackson Heights, Queens, gift shop called Inner Peace, lost her fiancé, a New York City firefighter, on 9/11, while Brian Lyons, a construction worker, lost his youngest brother, also a city firefighter. Nick Chirls was a high school student when his mother, who worked in finance at the World Trade Center, died in the attack. Tim Brown, another city firefighter, rushed to the towers that day <a href="http://www.couponcatch.net/ "><strong>local coupons </strong></a> but lived to tell about it, unlike his best friend, also a firefighter, and dozens of their colleagues. Moved along by a Philip Glass score and cutting back and forth between subjects, the film identifies the participants by their full names only at the end, after the credits roll. “It’s intentional,” Mr. Whitaker said. “I wanted to remove any barriers to the audience connecting. I wanted them to see at least one of these stories as their own.” Viewers observe the five very different people through new marriages and babies, family rifts and post-traumatic stress. The camera goes to weddings and into operating rooms and to memorial services, supplemented by home videos of events like birthday celebrations. For some of the subjects taking part in the film proved therapeutic. It was also a way to help shape the historical record. “I knew we needed to tell it to future generations,” said Mr. Brown, the now-retired firefighter. “When I met Jim that sealed the deal, he was such a wonderful human being, salt of the earth. He kind of became Dr. Jim to us. He was so good, so nonjudgmental, he just let us talk.” Mr. Brown, a single 49-year-old, said <a href="http://www.couponcatch.net/ "><strong>shop coupon </strong></a> that participating in “Rebirth” was hard and that he shared a few things about his family that he now regrets. But he is convinced, he said, that the film will help others understand grief and recovery. Ms. Tepper said she participated because she was afraid that people would move on after 9/11. She is often tearful as she tries to make sense of a life without Sergio, her fiancé, and begins dating again. She eventually married and at age 43 lives in Miami with her husband, Ray Tepper, a contractor, and their two young daughters. Her biggest surprise, she said, is that she managed to carve out a happy ending. Watching “Rebirth,” she was struck by all the different ways that people suffer and all the ways they get through it, she said. For herself, she added, “I learned that I can pretty much handle anything.” In part, the subjects of “Rebirth” — mostly found through the news media and word of mouth — were chosen for their ability to commit to a long project and to open up on camera. Mr. Whitaker said he also sought the chemistry to sustain a connection through no-holds-barred interviews that lasted three to five hours at a stretch, most of them held on 9/11 anniversaries. He started with 10 participants, but one dropped out. In editing hundreds of hours of footage he chose to focus on five subjects. (Eight <a href="http://metaverse.stanford.edu/live-video-stream#comment-26964"><strong>925 Sterling Silver West Indian Bangles Ram Head - Buy kays ...</strong></a> are included in a companion book to the film, including four from the film.) Besides the interviews, “Rebirth,” which had its premiere at the Sundance Film Festival in January, owes something to several cameras scattered near ground zero since 2002 to document rebuilding. Fourteen cameras remain positioned around and within the site. The “Rebirth” film and other original programming created by the “Rebirth” team will eventually be housed in the memorial and museum at ground zero. The nonprofit Project Rebirth was set up to support the film and the development of pre-trauma preparation training for first responders. The board of directors raised 9.4 million, about half of that in contributions of services and materials, like free film from Kodak. The movie has been shown to therapists, academics and first responders. At the end of “Rebirth” the subjects offer some thoughts about making it through and being grateful for what remains. Or as Ms. Young puts it: “It happened, but I’m alive.”
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