Twenty-three years have passed since September 11, 2001, a day many Americans will never forget. The bringing down of the twin towers of New York’s World Trade Center by two planes, a third plane hitting the Pentagon outside Washington, DC, and a failed attempt by a fourth plane that crashed in rural Pennsylvania as passengers were taking over the plane – these events are etched in the memory of U.S. citizens and the world.
And in the decades since, numerous documentaries and feature films have examined the events leading up to, during and after what became commonly known as 9/11. Today marks the 23rd anniversary of those attacks. For those who want to reminisce or educate young people who may not have been alive at the time, here are 12 films and documentaries worth watching.
1. “The Man Who Knew” (2002)
Watch on YouTube (1 hour, 25 minutes)
PBS’s “Frontline” is one of the best documentaries about 9/11 and its aftermath. “The Man Who Knew” is about a former FBI counterterrorism agent who believed the U.S. should have preemptively eliminated Osama Bin Laden. John O’Neill, who died in the Twin Towers on 9/11, had fought for six years to track down and prosecute al-Qaeda members around the world, but was considered controversial.
2. “Fahrenheit 9/11” (2004)
Watch on Peacock (2 hours, 2 minutes)
Director Michael Moore stood both in front of and behind the camera to take an unsparing look at the presidency of George W. Bush, the Iraq War, the way the media covered the war, and the government’s handling of the events of September 11.
3. “Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close” (2011)
Rent on YouTube (2 hours, 9 minutes)
Based on a bestselling novel by Jonathan Safran Foer, a year after his father was killed in the attacks on the World Trade Center, young Oskar sets out on a quest through New York with a key.
4. “The Woman Who Wasn’t There” (2012)
Watch on Prime (1 hour, 4 minutes)
Based on the story of Alicia Esteve Head, The Woman Who Wasn’t There is both a book and a documentary about a Spanish businesswoman who claimed to have survived the World Trade Center attacks (she called herself Tania Head). She became the leader of the World Trade Center Survivors’ Network – but in 2007 her story was revealed to be a hoax.
5. “9/11 at the Pentagon” (2016)
Rent on Prime (54 min.)
The Twin Towers weren’t the only buildings hit on 9/11; the Pentagon was hit by a third plane, killing 184 people. This documentary (also available on PBS with a subscription) shifts the perspective from New York to one of the country’s most important and secret buildings to examine the attack.
6. “In the Shadow of the Towers: Stuyvesant High on September 11th” (2019)
Watch on Max (32 min.)
Students at one of New York’s top schools, Stuyvesant High, saw the attack on the World Trade Center from their classrooms. Principal Amy Schatz spoke with former students and they shared their memories. (TODAY.com also has a story from the perspective of adults who were in kindergarten just blocks from the Twin Towers.)
7 & 8. “9/11: The Final Minutes of Flight 93” (2020) and “United 93” (2006)
Watch “9/11: The Final Minutes of Flight 93” on History. (43 min.)
Watch United 93 on Peacock. (1 hour, 50 minutes)
The U.S. Capitol and White House were not hit by a fourth plane on September 11 because passengers wrested control from the terrorists inside – and the plane instead crashed in a field near Pennsylvania. All 44 people on the plane (including the hijackers) were killed. The event was examined in a 2006 fictional feature film called United 93, while the documentary 9/11: The Final Minutes of Flight 93 provides recently declassified evidence that allowed filmmakers to recreate what happened on the plane minute by minute.
9. “The Eternal Prisoner” (2021)
Watch on Max (2 hours)
Oscar winner Alex Gibney – who co-executive produced the 10-part fictional account of the events leading up to 9/11 in 2018 with an adaptation of the 2006 book The Looming Tower – delved into the aftermath of al-Qaeda suspect Abu Zubaydah, the first high-level detainee to be subjected to “enhanced interrogation techniques” in the United States after 9/11.
10. “9/11: Inside the President’s War Room” (2021)
Watch on Apple TV+ (1 hour, 30 minutes)
This Apple TV+/BBC One documentary details the steps taken in the immediate hours after the attacks, focusing on the perspective of President George W. Bush and his staff. It includes interviews with Bush, former Vice President Dick Cheney, Condoleezza Rice, Colin Powell and many others.
11. “9/11: A Day in America” (2021)
Watch on Disney+ (6 episodes, running times vary.)
In its six episodes, One Day in America (an official collaboration with the 9/11 Memorial & Museum) takes viewers through the timeline of 9/11, focusing on those who survived and those who came to their aid – firefighters, paramedics and everyday people.
12. “Turning Point: 9/11 and the War on Terror” (2021)
Watch on Netflix (5 episodes, running times vary.)
In this five-part series, experts examine where the September 11 attacks came from, what happened that day, and the decades-long impact the attacks have had on the United States and its citizens.
