On Demand Weekly

On Demand Weekly provides new movie reviews of hot movies on demand and from the POV of watching from the comfort of your home. Today’s review: IREBIRTH (Oscilliscope).

REBIRTH

By John Werner

Tenth anniversary remembrances of 9/11 are everywhere, from a multitude of TV specials, radio retrospectives, newspaper reports to speeches and dedications. I even saw a commemorative car dealership ad. I dare say it’s ubiquitous and in some cases disquieting. As a result, I’ve been asking myself why ten years is so significant. Why do most of these TV specials and movies have to be released now? Why not five years ago? Or a year ago?

Then I saw REBIRTH, Jim Whitaker’s feature-length documentary, and remembered the adage, time heals all wounds and realized that this particular tribute couldn’t happen at a better time. REBIRTH has to be seen now. It is significant to the ten-year anniversary of 9/11 in a way that I’m not sure any other tribute could be. The film is a beautifully executed tribute to the strength of the human spirit and our amazing ability to heal.

Whitaker has been making the film for a decade following the lives of five people who suffered deeply from the events of that day - Nick a teenager the day his mother was killed; Brian, whose brother was a first responder; Tim, a firefighter who lost too many colleagues; Ling, a severely burned survivor from an impact floor and Tanya who lost her fiancé that day. Since 2002, they shared their life story, their living-history of 9/11, with Whitaker. REBIRTH also parallels the rebuilding of these lives with the rebuilding of ground zero featuring unique and ambitious multi-camera time-lapse footage of the site.