Today I watched the 9/11 musical ‘Come From Away’ which tells the tale of the events in New York City’s Twin Towers from September 2001. This year is the 20th anniversary of this tragic event in American history.
I still remember this event very vividly even though I wasn’t in the US at the time. Actually, I was in high school computer class and everyone was logging in when suddenly, we all noticed images of smoke coming out of the World Trade Centre on the news online. At first we thought it was some hoax or perhaps something from a film, but when we realized this was very real, the whole class went into a hush. We began worrying about friends and family we knew in New York City. Whether or not we were religious, we began to pray that everything will be okay.
How could such a high-profile place in New York City get bombed? And honestly, the United States is like a global superpower, so having terrorist attacks is big news. Since I was younger then, I was confused and didn’t really understand the impact the events of that day would have on history. So, watching this 9/11 musical was an interesting way to put things into perspective.
When U.S. airspace closed as a result of the attacks on the World Trade Center on Sept. 11, 2001, 38 planes were grounded in Gander, Newfoundland, stranding nearly 7,000 international travelers “on the northeast tip of North America.” In this musical, it tells the story chronicling the real experiences of those ‘plane people’ and the good-hearted folks from Gander.
I thought that ‘Come From Away‘ was a nice way to commemorate the events and to tell the story of the people behind the scenes who went out of their way to help the other people affected by the terrorist attack in USA. Watching this film on the 20th anniversary was a good way to pay tribute, but also to educate us about how, like in many things in life, things that happen don’t just affect one person. There’s a domino effect to many things in life and that is exactly what happened with the 9/11 attack. Many changes to airline safety procedures were made after the attack and also traveling on that day in the US even many years after hits a sore spot in the heart.
However, this musical has a very good take home message, which is that we can be better, and come together in more ways than we can possibly imagine. I would highly recommend this musical for introducing the events of 9/11 to our younger generation who only hear stories about this horrific day from 20 years ago.
8.5/10