9/11: Everybody's Gotta Learn Sometime

The Most Dangerous Film in America

An Unauthorized Review of “Everybody’s Gotta Learn Sometime”
By: Northern Lights

Spoiler alert. This film is slated to premier on May 8th. (see: www.crisisinamerica.org) There is a substantial amount of secrecy surrounding this film, and for those of you who would prefer to wait to view this film yourself, stop reading now.

Crude and incomplete bootleg copies of this film have circulated, in one form or another, for some time now within the 9/11 community, but when a near-final and unauthorized version of the film finally surfaced and came into my possession, I decided to skip the hoopla, and the considerable travel expenses associated with attending one of the premiers showing locally in my neck of the woods, and review the film for those of us who cannot personally attend.

And so I’m cheating.

Let me start by saying that I was somewhat dubious of this film’s promotional material’s claim that this film is “perhaps, the most important film of 2006.” Such hyperbole does little to impress me, given the onslaught of 9/11 independent films now available, each professing to possess the Rosetta Stone of 9/11 truth. Additionally, the speculation-rich environment of films such as “Loose Change” that successfully seek to raise suspicions, do little to serve the public interest in that they appear long on questions, but short on concrete facts.

Personal Reactions

Relying almost entirely on a strong narrative approach, combined with engaging animated graphics, visual cues and a powerful soundtrack, this film succeeds in invoking strong emotions, based solely on the power of the information being offered. There is nothing exploitive here. Emotions are not manipulated through the tactless use of the tragic imagery of that day. With the exception of a visual mosaic at the beginning of the film, very little is seen of the attacks themselves.

Instead, it appears that a growing crescendo of emotions, tied to unnerving facts, builds throughout the film, leaving the viewer with unsettling realizations that must somehow be processed into a new worldview.

After the film, my wife and I moved our thoughts and feelings outside into the Sonoma night. Both of us talked about the unrelenting knots in our stomachs as we sat under the stars and smoked. Both of us were not new to this. Both of us have been regular participants in the growing 9/11 doubters community. Both of us had made up our minds about 9/11 years ago. In fact, this film contained very little that we did not already factually know.

So why the strong reaction?

The film succeeds. Up until now we had pieced together our thoughts through the collective but disjointed research of others. The facts have always been out there, and each of us chooses to assimilate them in our own way. We attend meetings and view films and read books and talk long into the night. We form our own pools of opinions, and we wade carefully into them.

But nothing can ever prepare you for the emotional confrontation that comes with being thrown off the deep end of true validation. And that is what this film accomplishes. It appeared to us that, once and for all, the truth has finally coalesced into the perfect symmetry of form and function, like a torpedo to the heart, that was both a relief to behold, and a dreaded tragic moment of epiphany. It is all true. Our worst fears were true all along.

“Everybody’s Gotta Learn Sometime” could easily be the most important film of 2006, if we choose to let it be. But, a more apt description could be that this is the most dangerous film of 2006. It is accomplished. The deed is done.

As my wife and I listened to the sounds of the night, sitting in the irises and passing our smoke, catching the occasional falling star, we chuckled together, imagining the reactions of those among us who do not yet possess the right kind of eyes for the truth, and what awaits them now.