I don’t want to see the Oliver Stone-directed “World Trade Center” for a second time, but I do think you should see it once. 

The film written by Andrea Berloff, is a heartfelt story of survival, family and of course, disaster.  Many will quickly cast off this Stone project as too this or too that and others will surely prejudge the film based on his prior work that has been more opinion history rather than true-life accounts. 

It is hard to categorize, much less write about “WTC.”  You just have to see it.  It’s certainly a true story and one that we all experienced on some level.  Nearly five years after 9-11-01, it’s easy to “forget” that feeling we all had. Yet, it’s hard to remember a day with such terror, love, joy and sadness all wrapped into one. 

I’ll admit, I don’t want to ever feel that way (my sister was in NYC at the time) again, but I don’t necessary know if I want a film to remind me.  Nonetheless, I do think you should see “WTC.” 

In nutshell, it is the story of NYC Port Authority officers John McLoughlin and Will Jimeno -- played by Nicolas Cage and Michael Peña (“Crash”) -- who were two of only 20 people pulled alive from the massive heaps of rubble. 

Claustrophobic?  You may want to skip this movie.  The dramatic and tight camera angles show the pain up and close and sometimes too personal.  You forget that people were lying alive under buildings for hours and days.  Thankfully, 20 (only 20) were found. 

One hero of the film is Marine Dave Karnes -- played by Michael Shannon.  Karnes gets a calling at church on the day to go to New York and look for survivors.  He’s driven by duty and destiny.  This character seems fictional, but it is not.  Karnes later re-enlisted in the Marine Corps and served two tours of duty in Iraq.

The film, though, is full of heroes.  Frankly, all in the film are heroes and “WTC” shows that through family relationships, flash-backs and very well done teenage characters who really make you feel their fears, their unknowing and a “damn it, do something to save my dad” sense that you can really know if you are in that situation. 

The best way, for me, to close is to bullet point several items and again remind you to see “World Trade Center,” but probably only see it once.

• Many will say, I can hear it already:  “I don’t want to see it.”  “It’s not a political movie.” “It is a political movie.”  “It’s too much flag waving” “It’s just a story.”  Ignore this.  Movies are only political if you think they are.  Sure there is opinion, conjecture and motives in all art, but “World Trade Center” is only political, flag waving or just a story if you let it be. Trust me, no matter what it is or isn’t:  it’s moving. 
• The planes are never shown crashing into the towers. Stone seems to assume that we don’t want to see it.  It’s done using shadows and sounds.  It’s still disturbing. 
• Faith and religion are strong elements in the film. Jimeno and McLoughlin use prayer, visualization and faith to get them through.  It’s real life and it’s shown in the film.
• Sheboygan gets some love.  Stone uses several “live look ins” to show how America was reacting on 9-11.  One of the cities shown in Sheboygan.  Later in the film, police officers from the city are shown at Ground Zero grilling brats and helping the cause.  Sadly, the actor playing the Wisconsin cop pronounces our famous state sausage as if it rhymes with “cat.”
• I have no idea what this means but two actors from the FOX drama “24” are in the film.
• Stone thought of casting Kevin Costner as Sgt. John McLoughlin and it’s rumored that George Clooney turned down the role.  Some sources say John Travolta was also considered.  Cage was good, though. Very good, actually. He nails the New York accent, and to better capture the fear and claustrophobia of McLoughlin's ordeal, Cage spent hours in a sense-deprivation tank in Venice, CA.  The other lead, Michael Pena actually moved into Officer William Jimeno's home in New Jersey to study for the role. 

“World Trade Center” opens Aug. 9.