On Native Soil

Focusing on 9/11 surviving family members' passionate demand for an official investigation into the 2001 World Trade Center attacks, filmmaker Linda Ellman's riveting documentary serves as a remarkable audiovisual companion to the 9/11 Commission's official report (which is included as a downloadable PDF file here). Featuring alternating narration by Oscar winners Kevin Costner and Hilary Swank, On Native Soil is informed by an inspiring sense of moral outrage as it illustrates, step-by-step, how much the U.S. government and the Bush administration knew about possible terrorist attacks prior to 9/11, yet failed to take any significant action regarding those threats. Beginning with former CNN reporter Peter Arnett's revealing interview with Osama bin Laden in Afghanistan in 1997, and ending with the sobering observation that we're still inadequately prepared for another 9/11-like attack, the film unfolds with a deeply personal perspective that is dramatically contrasted with the galling audacity of administrative spin control. Then-National Security Advisor Condoleezza Rice looks particularly culpable: she either lied in her post 9/11 press conferences (when she claimed "nobody could have known of these attacks") or—worse—was unaware of the voluminous evidence available regarding terrorist plotting against Americans. Interagency communication breakdowns, disorganized response strategies when the attacks occurred, incredibly lax security at airports, and damning evidence of governmental neglect—all lead to the inescapable conclusion that 9/11 might have been avoided had the Bush administration been more attentive to clear threats to national security. In driving home these points, the film doesn't flinch from the harshest realities: in fact, this is one of the few 9/11 documentaries to show people leaping to their deaths from the burning twin towers of the WTC. DVD extras include extended interviews, a Court TV roundtable discussion with anchor Catherine Crier, and a photo gallery. Highly recommended. Aud: C, P. (J. Shannon)