chicagopoetry
I actually saw Reflecting Pool on YouTube/movies, and had never heard of it before then. It's too bad this movie is so boring, because the premise is good. A Russian-American journalist is assigned to write a story about what really happened on 9/11, by the publisher of an independent magazine that is about to go corporate who wants to go out with a bang. The problem is that if this movie was set in the real world, all our hero would need to do is slip a copy of Loose Change into the VHS (yes, he uses a VHS not a DVD) and in an hour or so he would have all the evidence that he grudgingly uncovers throughout this nearly two hour yawn generator.Just about every scene is the journalist sitting with some expert who is repeating nearly verbatim stuff that was revealed in Loose Change or in any number of other 9/11 documentaries. No new evidence is revealed whatsoever. Whoever made this film forgot that although based on facts it is a work of fiction. It would have been quite exciting if the journalist uncovered some hard evidence and then found himself in peril. Movies like Primer showed us that films don't need a big budget to be engaging. But instead, Reflecting Pool simply dredges up the same bullet points that have already been discussed but never answered for years, while changing the names of the sources (Popular Mechanics is repeatedly referred to as "that Mechanics science magazine").I'd like to see this movie redone or better yet, a movie told from the inside depicting the theories of how it was done. This movie should be REALLY scary as the journalist uncovers what at least seems to be the truth about 9/11, but instead it's too busy trying to convince the viewer instead of convincing the protagonist.
EmmanuelPerson
This film is the perfect medium to get people thinking about 9/11, the event, the contradictions and its legacy. It manages to pack so many astounding facts about 9/11 and present them in a gripping manner.I especially like the way viewers get to live through the hurdles faced by other concerned journalists and citizens investigating 9/11. For example, the hit-piece by the "Bare Facts" O'Reilly-esk news sequence with the sullying 'expert' is very fitting.Producing a movie on such a controversial and under-reported topic must've been tough. But it was well worth it and should be an inspiration to all of us.
Roald Pettersen
We will never know for sure who was behind the assassination of JFK. We will never know for sure what really happened in Roswell. And we will definitely never know what really happened on 9/11. The U.S. is what it has always been. If this really was a conspiracy, it will long since have been so well covered up that not even Washington Post can disclose it.After all the conspiracy theories (they even have their own websites), this film was a great disappointment with just a repetition of some highlights. It does not even attempt to make any dramatization. There are no effects; just two middle-aged men talking to each other and interviewing some chosen people.A bad thing about America is that Watergate could happen at all. A good thing is that it was exposed. And that it inspired films like "All the President's Men", "Nixon" and "Wag the Dog".
jimcirile
"The Reflecting Pool" may just be the "All the President's Men" of our time. No, it doesn't have Hoffman and Redford. But it is a gripping, chilling and important fact-based investigative drama. Writer/director Jarek Kupsc ("Slumberland") stars as Alex Prokop, a successful hard-hitting Russian/American journalist. As a last gasp before corporate takeover, his editor (Lisa Black) hands Prokop a bombshell assignment -- investigate the official version of 9-11. Prokop, dismissive of 9-11 skeptics, reluctantly teams with grieving father Paul Cooper (the outstanding Joseph Culp) to investigate. After losing his daughter in the attacks, Cooper transformed himself into a 9-11 expert -- at the expense of his marriage. As Prokop and Cooper kick at the hornets' nest, a sickening, carefully orchestrated pattern of deceit emerges and Prokop finds publishing the story may mean curtains on his career.The well-researched (and exhaustively documented on the DVD) thriller ultimately proves more compelling than 9-11-themed documentaries such as "Loose Change" by taking a narrative approach and by personalizing the story. Disbelieving investigative reporter Prokop is an effective audience surrogate, while the passionate, fragile and self-destructive Cooper grounds the story with heart and soul -- a constant reminder of the human cost of the "war on terror." The script is solid, the characterizations moving. If the film has a flaw, it's in trying to document so much evidence in a narrative structure. Yet by and large, it pulls it off to deliver a chilling and effective message maybe it *can* happen here."The Reflecting Pool" that will open eyes, anger some and test the faith of others. But it also finally gives voice to the 48% of Americans distrustful the official 9-11 story, according to a recent Zogby poll. And it's a tour de force from writer/director/actor Jarek Kupsc. See it and draw your own conclusions.