praise from a skeptic

Full disclosure: I've met Reflecting Pool director Jarek Kupisc, and discussed the film with him online, briefly. That doesn't mean I've drank 9/11 conspiracy Kool Aid. Quite the opposite. I am a NYC resident who was in Manhattan on 9/11, and often feel downright hostility towards those who want to squeeze the chaos and inscrutibility of the attacks into neat little Bush-sponsored packages. I would however like to defend the Reflecting Pool in terms of it's ambition, its ideas, and its technical and artistic merits.

We are right now in a post-9/11 period, and in a lot of ways I'm grateful for that. However, in leaving behind the paranoia and idiotic nationalism of that period, we all seem to have settled on an official story that in many ways requires as much suspension of disbelief as the average Hollywood action thriller or fantasy. And though I fancy myself an independent thinker, I admit I regarded questioning of The Official Version (as laid out in the 9/11 Report) as an unnecessary annoyance, or even as anti-patriotic. But even if after due research I dismiss some or all of what Kupisc asserts in Reflecting Pool, I reject an atmosphere where questioning The Official Version is in itself blasphemy. We all must admit that's no way to run a democracy.

The film is didactic, and it's a political film, with much to say. Yet it isn't a rant. It does explore many conspiracy (or, to be kind, alternate) explanations for certain aspects of the attacks. It is also part of a long tradition of using fiction to unearth larger truths - or in this case, to raise questions amid complacency. In this way, it does some of the job the mainstream news media should have.

As for its technical and artistic aspects, I question whether some previous posters actually like, or have even seen, an independent movie before. Some of my favorite films happen to be independent productions. Not cheap studio versions, but actual movies made by people with more vision than means: Laws of Gravity, She's Gotta Have It, The Unbelievable Truth, Killer of Sheep, Down by Law, El Mariachi, Straight Out of Brooklyn, etc. I enjoy these movies because although some aspects of their production seem less than slick, their lack of polish is more than made up for by their energy and originality, and their independence of thought. Reflecting Pool is in this vein. Those who run their credit cards deep into the red, employ their friends, family, and enemies, and beg, borrow and steal in order to make their movies fulfill a vital role in film culture. On any day I'd rather have energy and honesty than the same committee-vetted plots, slick meaningless dialog, and InTouch and People-approved actors.

All that said, I still take issue with many of Reflecting Pool's assertions, though I won't go into these here. See the movie and you'll find your own. This is a movie to be discussed. Imagine.