The 10 Best Movies and TV Documentaries to Watch About 9/11

Take your pick of riveting documentaries, dramatic feature films, and even a Broadway musical

Tracey Minkin,

AARP

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En español

Published September 11, 2024

Former President George W. Bush featured in "9/11: Inside the President’s War Room."

Apple TV+

The date — September 11 — is impossible to forget, but what about the details of the events, the players, the aftermath and repercussions? In the years since the 2001 attack, filmmakers have honored those who lost lives and loved ones or risked their lives in rescue, and keep the memory alive. Here are 10 important movies and TV documentaries, all streaming now.

United 93 (2006, R)

On United Airlines Flight 93, one of the four commercial airliners hijacked on September 11, the passengers and crew thwarted an attack on the U.S. Capitol. Everyone aboard died when it crashed in Pennsylvania. This act of citizen heroism — and the minute-by-minute drama of those aboard, government officials and air traffic controllers — plays out in real time in the Oscar-nominated United 93, directed by Paul Greengrass, 65, who kept the drama’s details very close to real events.

Watch it: United 93 on Peacock, Prime Video

The Looming Tower (2018)

Jeff Daniels, 69, Alec Baldwin, 66, and Peter Sarsgaard, 53, star in Hulu’s brilliant adaptation of Lawrence Wright’s 2006 Pulitzer Prize-winning book, which told the entire story of the tragedy. Helmed by Dan Futterman (Capote) and Oscar-winning documentarian Alex Gibney along with Wright, The Looming Tower is a taut 10-episode series about the late-1990s rise of Osama bin Laden and al-Qaeda, and how intra-agency battles between the FBI and CIA counterterrorism divisions may have set the table for tragedies to come.

Watch it: The Looming Tower on Apple TV, Hulu

The Report (2019, R)

This Amazon Original historical political drama directed by Scott Z. Burns (Contagion) digs into the intelligence-gathering aftermath of 9/11. Annette Bening, 66, plays Sen. Dianne Feinstein, who chooses senate staffer Daniel J. Jones (Adam Driver) to lead a Senate Intelligence Committee review of 6 million pages of CIA materials on “enhanced interrogation techniques.”

Watch it: The Report on Prime Video

Worth (2020, PG-13)

Michael Keaton, 73, plays Kenneth Feinberg, the real-life lawyer who was tasked with calculating the incalculable — the worth of a human being — for the September 11 Victim Compensation Fund. Stanley Tucci, 63, plays an articulate, dogged challenger to Feinberg, with Amy Ryan, 56, as his law partner. A gripping drama that doubles as a profound moral inquiry.

Watch it: Worth on Apple TV, Netflix

Come From Away (2021)

It may be hard to imagine a feel-good story coming out of the events of September 11, but the truth is that 38 of the many diverted flights that tragic day were directed to — and landed in — the small Canadian town of Gander, Newfoundland. That fishes-out-of-water story — about how 7,000 strangers came together in the true expression of sanctuary — inspired a 2017 Broadway musical hit that was nominated for seven Tony Awards and won one for best direction. Apple filmed the show live, and we’re so lucky to be able to revisit the tuneful, soulful reminder of humanity’s better nature.

Watch it: Come From Away on Apple TV+

9/11: Inside the President’s War Room (2021)

Who can forget the footage of then-President George W. Bush sitting with a group of schoolchildren when the news was whispered to him on September 11? This Apple TV Original Documentary shows how the next 12 hours played out in the inner sanctum of the executive office. The former president, 78, gives his memories of the events, along with Dick Cheney, 83, Condoleezza Rice, 69, Colin Powell and other members of the administration. It’s a deeply personal and fascinating watch.

Watch it: 9/11: Inside the President’s War Room on Apple TV+

9/11: One Day in America (2021)

This six-part documentary limited series from National Geographic is an essential watch for young Americans born too late to remember 9/11 — as well as their parents and grandparents. The archival footage and interviews with survivors and eyewitnesses is riveting and vital.

Watch it: 9/11: One Day in America on Hulu, Disney+

Rebuilding Hope: The Children of 9/11 (2021)

As families were torn apart by 9/11, one group — pregnant women who lost their husbands and partners that day — faced a particularly cruel fate. With People magazine, the Magnolia Network offers a moving catch-up 20 years after the attack to share four families’ stories. This is a documentary of loss, love and resilience.

Watch it: Rebuilding Hope: The Children of 9/11 on Max

Spike Lee’s NYC Epicenters 9/11→2021½ (2021)

Passionate New Yorker and heralded filmmaker Spike Lee, 67, found thematic and emotional ties between the tragedies and challenges of 9/11 and the COVID-19 pandemic, and how his home city and fellow citizens responded. With an incredible array of participants, from politicians to actors to activists, Lee’s lens captures a singular American spirit at the epicenter in this four-episode documentary series.

Watch it: Spike Lee’s NYC Epicenters 9/11→2021½ on Max

The Reluctant Fundamentalist (2012, R)

With the cultural ramifications of 9/11 as its catalyst, Monsoon Wedding director Mira Nair’s political thriller (based on the novel by British-Pakistani novelist Mohsin Hamid, 53) stars Riz Ahmed (Sound of Metal) as an ambitious Pakistani who finds his Princeton degree and Wall Street success are suddenly suspect, as he’s trailed 10 years later by an American journalist (Liev Schreiber, 56), who thinks he may have had something to do with a terrorist-related kidnapping. The film was honored for its empathy and themes of tolerance.

Watch it: The Reluctant Fundamentalist on Apple TV

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