So, recently I watched 2 conspiracy theory documentaries, Loose Change 9/11 and 911: In Plane Site. I’m not huge into conspiracy theories, I usually think they’re kind of over reactions to events and people need to relax a bit. But when I saw both of these on netflix, I thought I should give them a try, since I have heard of a few conspiracy points about 9/11 before.
I’ve heard some stories about people saying there were no windows on the planes when they saw them crash into the towers and things like that, but I didn’t think too much about it, I mean, all I remember is how tragic it was, I was 11 when it happened and I remember going to school and the only thing we did all day in class was watch the news. It was a pretty horrific site, watching the planes slam into the towers over and over again, and then seeing the towers collapse onto themselves. I think it’s engrained into everyone’s minds who were alive when it happened.
But when I watched both of the documentaries, it shed light on some things that I never thought of or maybe didn’t think critically enough of. I think most people don’t think critically about tragedies like that because people feel like it would be insensitive to the people who died. But if you think critically and solve mysteries surrounding the events I think it also kind of respects the victims because you’re finding out the truth and hopefully bringing justice to the event and the people that could have been involved.
Before I go into the documentaries and what I feel about 9/11 after watching them, I want to make a disclaimer that these are obviously biased accounts of the events and they have their own agendas for making this. I also want to say that it’s okay to disagree with anything they say or even what I say in this review, it could be true or it could be totally made up, but that’s for you to decide and I would encourage watching it so you can form your own opinions. This article is solely for the purpose of reviewing the movies, not trying to argue for or against any theories. With that said, let’s get into it!
So, I watched Loose Change first, and I think that it’s the better of the two, in facts and evidence but also because of their narrative style. In 911: In Plane Site, the narrator is kind of pompous and arrogant, so that kind of turned me off a bit, but in Loose Change they were a bit more down-to-Earth about it, I suppose you could say. Anyway, Loose Change made a lot of good points that I never thought about, or never even realized. They talked about the Pentagon attack and how things didn’t add up, the hole in the building was too small for any type of plane to fit into, and suspiciously there was no video footage of the plane hitting the building, which is odd because the Pentagon is supposed to be the most secure building in the country, and it has dozens of security cameras on every side. Then they went over flight 93 that crashed in a forest in Pennsylvania, and how there was nothing there, no plane parts, no signs of a crash besides a plane-shaped crater in the ground, which is strange because in other plane crashes there’s always parts found, like engines, seats, luggage, even bodies sometimes. So they were just pointing out how some things didn’t add up.
Then they started talking about the towers, which is when things started to get very interesting. They talked about how people who were in the building heard bomb explosions right before the tower fell, and how the way the towers fell definitely resembled a controlled demolition, straight down the middle. They talked about how a scientist tried to get samples of the remains to check for explosives residue, but no one was allowed to test anything and the ruins were cleaned up almost immediately with no warning and shipped to a different country for scrap. All pretty interesting stuff, now obviously the documentary went into way more detail then I just did. They also brought up historical cover-ups and conspiracies too, like how it was uncovered recently that FDR knew about the Pearl Harbor attacks before they happened. The government had ample warning from Japan before it happened, and they chose not to do anything, most likely so the American people would support going to war. So it’s interesting that we went to war with Afghanistan and later Iraq after 9/11 and found nothing, and many people think it was over oil and not WMDs. They also talked about how Osama bin Laden never even admitted to the terrorist attacks, and even denied doing it, which is odd since you’d think they would have bragged about doing it if they did. He did claim responsibility in 2006 however, and said he was in charge of the hijackers that did it, although some translators say the initial translation of the broadcast was incorrect.
Now, again, I’m reporting what the documentaries said, I’m not claiming this as fact, obviously there’s facts and evidence that was ignored when they made these documentaries, but they do have some interesting points and analyses. In talking about the towers falling and the way they fell, it’s interesting some of the points they make, like how fast the towers fell, free fall, which should have been impossible since the rest of the building would have been in the way of the towers falling that fast. And building 7 that fell later that afternoon, which was suspicious because it wasn’t hit by anything, so why was it hot enough to fall, and it fell the same way the twin towers did, straight down the middle like a controlled demolition. There were also reports that explosions could be heard before it fell. Also building 7 was a private government building and no one really knew what went on inside or what they had in there, so if the conspiracy is true, what were they trying to hide by destroying it? They also said that the jet fuel wouldn’t have burned hot enough to melt the steel in the twin towers like the official government reports said it did, so take that how you want to.
They also interviewed a man that escaped from building 7 before it came down. He was one of the first people interviewed on the news as he was running from the building the day of. In the documentary though he talked about being inside the building and hearing explosions and eventually being rescued out of the building. The narrator said that shortly after that interview he was reportedly checked into the hospital without being sick and then was reported dead, pretty interesting, that’s really sad though.
So then I watched 911: In Plane Site, which I said before, the narrator seemed pompous and arrogant, with an attitude that says “How come you didn’t already believe this? Why are you watching this?” So that bothered me a little bit, but regardless, it brought up some of the same topics that Loose Change did, but In Plane Site went deeper into the Pentagon attack. It talked about how the shape of the hole didn’t even look like a plane hit it, there was no damage where the wings and vertical stabilizer would have made contact. There wasn’t much of the plane left over, and the crater it left in the wall wasn’t even deep enough for a plane to fit into. There were no marks on the grass in front of the building and the only pictures that were taken before the ceiling crashed down were immediately confiscated and taken down from the media.
Then they went into the twin towers, and analyzed videos that show a small explosion before either plane hit the towers, or right as the plane noses touched the buildings a small explosion went off, which couldn’t be explained unless there was something on the nose of each plane, according to the documentary. They also noticed something strapped to the bottom of the planes and they determined that it was a government instrument, possibly an explosive? They brought up eye-witness testimonies that were only brought up once of explosions, vehicles with explosives, the planes having no windows or not being commercial airliners. The one thing they didn’t bring up, and neither did actually, were the recorded phone calls from passengers on the planes, since some of them called their loved ones from the plane. I wish they added that in, that could have been interesting to listen to or to what they would have to say about it.
I think it’s interesting how both sides defend themselves. The government and people who think it was a terrorist attack and not a conspiracy say that conspiracy theories are ridiculous and ignore facts that don’t fit in their arguments, while conspiracy theorists say the government and others who are controlled or under the authority of the government hides facts in manners that suggest cover-ups or trying to hide evidence. Who do you really trust? It’s interesting, it’s hard to decide, do you trust the huge government that you don’t actually know a whole lot about what goes on inside closed doors, or small groups of people that are passionately against the government. Either way, the towers still fell, thousands of people still died, and the world was changed on September 11th, 2001, and “revealing the truth” or leaving it alone doesn’t change the fact that it happened. So whether you believe the government was behind it or not, your life and the world we live in is different because of this.
Like I said before, I’m not endorsing what these documentaries say, I don’t necessarily agree or disagree with what they have to say, but I think it’s interesting and worth watching. So if you read something in this review that you don’t like or agree with, don’t take it out on me, I’m just reporting what the documentaries said.
Now, for the reviews,
Loose Change. It was well made, went into a good deal of detail. It had some good interviews that shed light on eye-witness testimonies, so you could hear it first hand. It covered all 4 planes pretty well, and gave a few ideas of where the real planes could have gone if the ones that crashed were fake. It also talked about one of the hijackers that lived in the US and trained as a pilot, but failed every test, so that was interesting to find out. I wish that it had talked about some of the phone calls from passengers though. It talked about the government reports and findings and gave good evidence for rebuttal.
Overall, I felt like Loose Change was pretty good, whether you agree with it or not, it is well made and sparks passion in the viewer. It also has a call to action at the end, which is a good sign that the makers are passionate and really care for their cause.
I’d give Loose Change a 4/5 rating because of that, not because I necessarily agree with everything, but from a filmmaker’s standpoint, it’s pretty good.
9/11: In Plane Site. I didn’t like this one as much mostly because of the narrator. I felt like he was pompous and arrogant, like I’ve said before, and is off-putting for first time viewers. The information that it gives is also interesting, it goes more into detail about the Pentagon attack, which I actually didn’t know too much about. It addresses a few of the counter-points, more so than Loose Change, but it clearly puts them in bad lighting, making them seem stupid and blatantly ignoring evidence, which I’m sure isn’t 100% true.
So overall, I didn’t like it as much as Loose Change, but it did go more in depth where Loose Change left off, so they kind of compliment each other in that way I suppose. But because of the narrator and the less narrative format of In Plane Site, I give it a 3/5 rating.
So there you have it, 2 conspiracy theory documentaries that go hand-in-hand. I would highly recommend watching them, even if you don’t agree with their agenda, and it’s up to you to decide what you believe, thanks for reading!
The Qualmist 