World Trade Center

I saw World Trade Center, Oliver Stone's movie about 9/11. As reported by other critics, Oliver Stone does not use the events in this movie to jump on a soap-box. Instead, he takes a straightforward look at one of the remarkable survival stories of that grim and fateful day.

It is the story of John McLoughlin and William Jimeno, two Port Authority policemen who went into the World Trade Center that morning, aiming to help. Instead, they were crushed underneath the rubble when the towers collapsed. This first part of the movie takes place quickly.

The long middle of the movie takes us underneath the rubble, alongside these two average men, suffering above average pain. These scenes are dark (literally; the frames are mostly unlit), and close. As a viewer, you wanted to get out too.

The long middle also takes us into the worried families of these men (both are married with children). The actresses who play their wives convey the strength, the fear and the doubt that they certainly had to have, especially on that terrible day. In many ways, this was the more compelling story. We knew and the trapped policemen knew where they were: these women didn't.

The movie takes us from unknowing to knowing, from fear to joy. The dramatic finish is something Hollywood wouldn't dare write (a former Marine drives in from Connecticut, makes his way to Ground Zero, and begins calling out for survivors). But we accept it, with tears in our eyes, because it is what really happened that day.

The movie is a 'rescue' story. Rescues happen on all the time. But on 9/11, from the rubble of the fallen towers, there were only a few dozen 'survivors'. This is a great movie about two of those survivors and their rescuers.

Tour de Farce

I held my breath waiting for the results of Floyd Landis' second blood test this weekend. On Saturday, I exhaled a disgusted breath. The second tests came to the same conclusion. Floyd Landis was 'doped up' during the Tour de France.

In sports, unlike the movies, or novels, letting yourself believe is a truly vulnerable act. If you let yourself believe in some sporting event, in some sporting hero, in some sporting result, and then you find out that what you've opened your heart to was actually tainted in some way, it's like a sucker punch.

Landis took away all the positive feelings from his 2006 Tour de France "victory". Yes, he'll appeal. Perhaps he may be redeemed. But two lab results are in, and it's devasting news for those of us who wanted to believe in a great event, in a new great hero, in a wildly spectacular result.

Floyd Landis and Le Tour

I'm sure it's a fantasy for most boys with cycling dreams, the big cycling dreams that encompass the biggest bicycle race there is, the Tour de France. As a kid, you'll put yourself in the toughest situation: You're down by a big margin with one last mountain stage to go. You and your team decide to go for broke, to ride with audacity. You decide to attack from the start, to try to cut that deficit by winning the stage, and perhaps win the yellow jersey. And in your dreams, you'll come out on top. In your dreams.

It's a child's dream because in the modern Tour such comebacks are unheard of. When a yellow jersey leader is ahead by seven minutes, as Oscar Pereiro (Spain) was at the start of Stage 17, teamwork and convention suggest that he would hold that lead to the finish. An attacker hoping to indulge in this child's dream couldn't possibly expect to maintain the pace needed to stay ahead of the peloton.

But somehow, Floyd Landis (United States) was able to fulfill this childhood fantasy. He rode the race of his life, winning Stage 17 (his first stage win ever), and seating himself in third place, a mere thirty seconds behind the leader, the presumably startled Oscar Pereiro. When I watched the recaps of Stage 16, the announcers had written off Landis. Landis was done. It was finished. He might gain time in the time trial (Stage 19), but it would be too much to expect him back in contention.

Except Landis expected more. He dominated the stage, setting an unmatchable pace in the high heat. He attacked early. He chased a breakaway, then became the breakaway leader himself. In the broadcast, the announcers kept expecting a response from the chasing peloton, but the response would come too late.

Experts were stumbling over the superlatives, trying to describe this stage win. "Best stage that I have ever followed." "...I am wracking my brain thinking what I can compare it to." "...the greatest single day ride in the history of the Tour..." When a childhood fantasy comes true, when it happens right before our eyes, it's hard to come up with the words.

In the end, the unassuming Floyd Landis was quoted: "I was going to make whoever wins this Tour deserve it." That person might be him.