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September 11, 2001, American trauma in the cinema

September 11, 2001. The day the world shook. Since then, 23 years have passed and the One World Trade Center, New York's tallest monument, invites us to the duty of remembrance. "Cinema creates memories," said Jean-Luc Godard, here are some post-September 11 films that imprint both the trauma and the cathartic urgency.

Zero Dark Thirty Directed in 2012 by Kathryn Bigelow, Zero Dark Thirty tells the story of the hunt for Osama Bin Laden after the September 11 attacks. Jessica Chastain, who rose to fame in the great Take Shelter (Jeff Nichols) and The Tree of Life by Terrence Malick, plays a CIA agent determined to track down the terrorist.

Wrongly described as a pro-torture film, this high-tension thriller reveals the stages of Operation Neptune's Spear. Mind-blowing sequence filmed in real time at the end of which the leader of Al-Qaeda is killed in his fortified home in Abbottabad, Pakistan.

• Available on Blu-Ray and on Apple TV+, UniverCiné, Canal VOD

World Trade Center September 11, 2001. Will Jimeno (Michael Pena), a New York police officer, chooses to go to work rather than enjoy his family. With his close colleague John McLoughlin (Nicolas Cage), he is about to experience the most trying day of his life.

Critics have criticized the sentimentality and the flood of good feelings at work in this World Trade Center by Oliver Stone. Trapped under the rubble after the collapse of the two towers, two men completely left to their own devices will demonstrate unconditional endurance and solidarity. Enough to compel admiration.

• Available on Blu-Ray and on MyCanal, Prime Video, Apple TV+, UniverCiné

State Lies Adapted from the novel by journalist David Ignatius, State Lies tells the story of the hunt for a Jordanian terrorist by a former journalist, Roger Ferris (Leonardo Di Caprio) on a mission by the CIA. A John Le Carré-style spy thriller that plunges us into the mysteries of international terrorism.

• Available on Blu-Ray and on Max, Filmo, Apple TV+, Canal VOD

Cloverfield New York. A big party is organized for Rob's (Michael Staël-David) departure abroad. Commissioned to immortalize the event, Hud (TJ Miller) is unaware that these are his last carefree videos. The next day, Manhattan will be nothing more than a field of ruins.

Behind the catastrophic images captured by Matt Reeves' onboard camera for his Cloverfield appear the ghosts of September 11. The perfect host for the Apocalypse, New York City is attacked by an unidentified but highly symbolic monster... Just look at the film's poster and its two burning towers.

• Available in 4K and on MyCanal, Prime Video, Apple TV+, UniverCiné

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