By: Jared Evan
A documentary chronicling the creation of the 9/11 museum was recently released and officials from the museum are unhappy with the final product and how the creators of the museum are portrayed.
The documentary — shot from 2008 to 2014, the year the museum opened — follows Michael Shulan, the first creative director of the 9/11 Memorial & Museum and several others involved in creating the museum as they decide what to exhibit and how to present it.
NY Times reported: The filmmakers cast Alice M. Greenwald, who came from the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum and is now the 9/11 museum’s chief executive, as Shulan’s adversary: “Michael wanted to engender questions,” the narrator says. “Alice wanted to provide answers.”
“The Outsider,” directed by husband-and-wife team Steven Rosenbaum and Pamela Yoder, was released a week ago on Apple iTunes, Amazon video and Facebook.
After viewing a preview of the film which was held mainly for “security” and to eliminate any “disparagement, the complaints rolled in.
The NY Post reported: after previewing the film, the museum sent the filmmakers a lengthy list — obtained by The Post — of scenes and dialog it demanded to be deleted, saying some were inaccurate and others included “sensitive material.”
In one scene, curators listen to the harrowing 911 call of a woman trapped on an upper floor of a burning tower, begging for help and crying, “I’m going to die, aren’t I?”
Officials wrote in their list of objections, “We did listen to it to make the decision not to use it. There was a healthy debate, and, in the end, the audio was not used.”
NY Post pointed out, that the film juxtaposes video of people jumping from the flaming skyscrapers with staff discussing how to relate that horror in the exhibits.
“It makes it seem like we endorse the use of the footage, which is not true,” officials said. Instead, the museum displays a “dignified, respectful” sequence of stills in an alcove with a warning sign to let visitors decide whether to view them.
Some of the other scenes officials objected to according to the NY Post include:
- Staffers sharing laughs as they ponder whether to sell men’s ties in the gift shop.
- A scene showing a staffer crossing out the words “Islamic terrorists” on a draft text for an exhibit about collective grief.
- Officials also bristled at Shulan referring to the “terrible beauty” and “evil genius” of the 9/11 attacks, saying his comments would cause the whole staff “to be held in contempt.”
In the end none of the scenes have been removed, and there has been no comment as to if there will be any lawsuits. This entire incident displays the power of editing and the power of film making, where moments captured can be taken out of context to develop an entire narrative, which often does not tell the entire story.
