Brothers…On Holy Ground

Retired New York firefighter Mike Lennon voluntarily returned to duty immediately after the 9/11 terrorist attacks and spent two weeks at Ground Zero as part of the rescue mission searching for survivors. Lennon then took his video camera to firehouses around New York and interviewed both firefighters who lost comrades in the World Trade Center and the widows who lost their husbands on that horrible day. The resulting film, Brothers…On Holy Ground, is a painful and sensitive tribute to bravery and sacrifice in the face of extraordinary challenge. An unusually accomplished interviewer, Lennon enables the men and women featured here to open their souls and share their anguish with a harrowing degree of raw honesty (this is not an easy film to watch). The nightmare of 9/11 still lingers across New York, with the recent focus on the seemingly endless bickering on how to rebuild at Ground Zero and memorialize those who perished (efforts by the firefighters to have a separate memorial for their fallen has created more than a little ill-will, especially among the families of the other 9/11 dead). If any museum is to be placed at Ground Zero, however, one would hope that this moving and powerful film will be available for permanent viewing. Highly recommended. Editor's Choice. Aud: C, P. (P. Hall)