Memory Box: Echoes of 9/11, 2021.
Directed by David Belton and Bjørn Johnson.
Featuring Donald Byrd, Daisy Khan, Rik Parker.
SYNOPSIS:
A feature documentary collecting accounts of 9/11 submitted via a video booth in the months after the attack. The same witnesses are revisited 20 years later.
How we cope with traumatic memories is the focus of this emotionally charged documentary from filmmakers David Belton and Bjørn Johnson.
Uncovering how people felt on that day and the changes that took place in the years since, the film is an illuminating and powerful testament to human resilience.
The set-up is based on videos gathered via a memory box arranged by the artist Ruth Sergel just months after the attacks. Survivors were invited to reflect on how 9/11 affected them personally and anything else they wanted to share.
The box has a confessional booth appearance and atmosphere about it, and the participants deliver deeply personal accounts of the day. The videos have never been seen publicly until now.
All too often the real personal stories of people involved in tragedies are overshadowed by news footage and grandstanding opinion.
The film skillfully intersperses the devastating footage of the attacks with the video accounts. The horror that was experienced both by the world at large and the individuals within it is made loud and clear.
The twist in the tale of this thoughtful documentary film comes around an hour into the stories. We then see that a new video booth has been set up 20 years later.
Looking at the survivors in 2021 and hearing their stories of how they have learnt to live with grief, find happiness where possible and live on is an inspirational watch.
It most closely resembles the concept of the famed Up documentary series by Michael Apted, which followed the lives of different people, recording their thoughts and feelings, and revisiting them 7 years at a time.
It is a valuable technique for showing how things change, and how universal some things are.
Memory Box does not shy away from the difficult questions of how America and the rest of the world have dealt with terrorism post 9/11. Questions of whether the country is as united as it was in the aftermath of the attacks are asked subtly.
Reflections on how crowds of people from all over the nation turned up to help at ground zero in the days after the event are contrasted with the capitol attacks 20 years later. The participants are in no doubt that the world had forever changed.
This is most eloquently articulated in the account of the American Muslim who feared how the hijacker of her religion had made the world a far more dangerous place. The humanistic power of foresight was also offered by a man who lost his partner in the attacks. He shared that he was convinced that his children would benefit most of all from the nursery teaching from the best teacher available; an American Muslim.
Poignant memories of grief, loss and resolution are powerfully brought out simply. Letting the words do the talking, without unnecessary narrative or commentary, the result is a potent mediation on dealing with trauma.
Flickering Myth Rating – Film: ★ ★ ★ ★ / Movie: ★ ★ ★ ★
Memory Box: Echoes of 9/11 will air January 18th at 9pm on SKY Documentaries ahead of the BAFTA TV Awards.
Robert W Monk is a freelance journalist and film writer.
Originally published January 15, 2022. Updated January 18, 2022.
