911: In Plane Site

Seventy-two minutes of 9/11 conspiracy theories presented with evangelical fervor but laughably shaky evidence, this so-called documentary repeatedly shoots itself in the foot. Sermonizing host/narrator Dave vonKleist (who shamelessly pitches his website and radio show in every segment) clings desperately to panicked, out-of-context accounts from unidentified "eyewitnesses" ("To me it sounded like an explosion!"), conflicting breaking-news from the day (the kind of early, unsubstantiated reports that inevitably include inaccuracies), and suppositions and "evidence" that have since been thoroughly debunked by many independent, well-researched sources (like an in-depth, point-by-point report in the March 2005 issue of Popular Mechanics). The presentation includes some largely unseen (and largely fuzzy) footage from the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, which is used here very selectively to suggest that U.S. military weaponry--not hijacked passenger jets--were used in the attacks. But the filmmakers jump to conclusions from the flimsiest of premises (a Purdue University computer simulation of the Pentagon attack doesn't show engines on the plane!), fail to interview a single person with scientific acumen (say, a structural engineer to back up their theories about damage to the Pentagon), and wear blinders concerning any information that pokes holes in their assertions (like photos of plane debris on the Pentagon lawn, witnesses who saw the plane hit, black-box recordings, and the fact that the people on those jets never returned home). Misquoting--and sometimes even misidentifying--some witnesses, 911 in Plane Site simply doesn't stand up to the least amount of logical scrutiny. Not recommended. [Note: also newly available, along the same lines, is Confronting the Evidence: a Call to Reopen the 9/11 Investigation, free from http://reopen911.org/pictures_and_videos.htm.] Aud: C, P. (R. Blackwelder)