NYC Epicenters 9/11-2021½

Any negative review or rating below 8/10 of this work (a DOCUMENTARY series) is based purely on ignorance and stupidity. The End.

STATEMENT OF TRUTH: Basing a review of CLEARLY DOCUMENTED FACTS and the ACTUAL EXPERIENCED REALITY of others on opinion and conjecture is thoroughly & absolutely RIDICULOUS. You, meaning all the OTHERS who were NOT PRESENT for originally filmed/documented experiences and/or included as survivor subjects in the filming of these experiences, DO NOT get to have an opinion about someone else's LIVED EXPERIENCE!!! It's THAT simple.

A review or rating of documentary work should be solely inspired by one's visceral response to the filmmaker's artistic expression of said facts & experiences. For example, the question to ask one's self is: how did the inclusion or exclusion of XYZ make you feel?/what kind of response did XYZ elicit from you?

For me personally, I truly appreciated the very candid interviews conducted throughout the series so far. They added another important, necessary dimension or layer of humanity to the potentially abstract or otherwise oh so very blunt force trauma and horror of catastrophic events collectively experienced, even if in very different ways, by Americans across the country and around the world. My experience of the terrorist attacks perpetrated on September 11, 2001 was INCREDIBLY traumatizing (I ended up hospitalized as a direct result of that stress & experience) in its own way despite living in middle America, very much removed from the Eastern Seaboard. I have/had family in Manhattan, Brooklyn, Queens, etc. For whom I was very concerned and afraid. However, my trauma, though absolutely no less valid, is quite significantly different than someone else's who may have been at the Pentagon, inside the Twin Towers, was a family member of someone aboard United 93 who LITERALLY lived through that deadly attack, or had a direct personal attachment to any of those locations. Those interviews, the ones conducted by Spike Lee himself, were an excellent addition to this work. I learned things about which I'd previously NO EARTHLY CLUE because of those interviews. The same can be said of the musical selections, the Covid stories & experiences, the BLM movement & protests, in support of social & cultural change, etc.

This creatively produced, extremely well done docuseries is nothing short of amazing. Spike Lee is simply brilliant and I applaud him, his crew, and everyone involved with the series development and production.

Okay - just going to state this from the off that I have no political bias here and it's clear that haters are just going to hate and try and put people off watching what is one of the most intimate, current and emotively poignant documentaries ever made about a city surviving a plethora of pain, but with a huge 'Butchers Bill' of loss that will be felt for years to come.

Spike Lee through a series of interviews with everyone from officials, to Doctors and Nurses and your average people on the street, gives an authentic vocal narrative to the people of New York City, over one of the most turbulent periods of its history.

I had this programme on in the background as I was working, but gradually I was so compelled by the authentic power of the stories of the real people who lived through the times of Covid and BLM, that I had to watch it all again.

What Lee captures here so viscerally, more important than anything else, is the HUMANITY of the people he interviews. The power of their stories, of friends and families losing loved ones in the pandemic, losing faith in their leaders, after the murder of George Ffloyd is a power piece of filmmaking that deserves to be seen and shows Lee at his best.

There is no conspiracy nonsense here, so don't listen to such comments, clearly made by people who haven't even seen the whole show. If anything Lee highlights the danger of this, by showing how such an attitude cost one person their life. He has, in this mini-series, captured one of the most important times in history through the voices of the people who were there, who saw and experienced everything they're talking about, first hand.

From firefighters, to cops, to actors to restaurant owners.

This is the sort of documentary politicians the world over should be watching. It's a power reminder of what can happen, when you forget the reason you were elected to power was actually to serve the needs of all people you govern, and protect all the people you serve.

Brilliant authentic film making.

Incredible is the best word I can use to describe this movie! There are so many untold stories about 9/11 and the pandemic. New Yorkers and their resilience is inspiring! I loved hearing the different stories and Spike's laughter is infectious!

I think that this series does an excellent job of informing viewers of details of events that they may not know about that has happened in NYC.

Spike Lee starts off with Covid. Then goes to the problem of racism in the country as a whole and the effects that had on New Yorkers. Then the Capitol beach. And then to 9/11.

Thought this was well presented and even handed. I wonder what happened to us, Americans since 9/11. When did we start hating fellow Americans. Reading the reviews, I didn't see what the various complaints were on the 3 episodes.

I thought the 3rd episode on 9/11 was powerful and moving. I never knew about the boats who evacuated all of the New Yorkers from the tip of Manhattan.

This episode alone should be required viewing for everyone. It's should not be Never Forget, it should be We Always Remember, for those who sacrificed themselves to help others.