Oliver Stone’s new film World Trade Center is a blatant attempt to play on the emotions of people all over the country and make lots of money in the process. Every American remembers what happened the day the twin towers fell almost five years ago. There does not need to be a movie about it.

The fact that two films about Sept. 11 have come out fewer than five years after the attack is a sign that the film industry is completely desensitized and will do anything to evoke emotion in the American public. Of course World Trade Center will be an emotional experience for most viewers, but the emotion will not come from the film, it will come from the memory.

There has been an obvious decline in the quality of movies in the past few years with uber-action flicks like King Kong and Too Fast Too Furious Hollywood is out of material, and, understandably, filmmakers have turned to real life. But something is wrong with Hollywood when it takes 20 years to make a film about the American hockey team’s victory in the 1984 Olympics, in the film Miracle, and less than five years to make two films about the largest terrorist attack in United States history.

United 93 has been living up to low expectations the box office since its release on April 28, with a gross of $30.5 million, compared to X-Men: The Last Stand‘s $176 million gross. United 93 director, Paul Greengrass, "…does not exploit, he draws no conclusions, he points no fingers, he avoids ‘human interest’ and ‘personal dramas’ and just simply watches," wrote Roger Ebert in the Chicago Sun-Times.

The difference between the two 9/11 films is the "personal drama" factor. While United 93 does not use recognizable actors or focus on just a few people, World Trade Center follows the experiences of the families of two police officers who survived the collapse of the twin towers. It is the creation of personal drama that is most offensive. Everyone had their own reaction to the attack, and the experiences of other families should be kept to themselves.

World Trade Center stars Nicolas Cage as John McLoughlin, a police chief and real life survivor of the attack. According to imdb.com, director Oliver Stone wanted a big name actor who could represent McLoughlin as the American hero archetype. Also in the cast are Jay Hernandez, Maria Bello, and Maggie Gyllenhaal; clearly not the no-name cast of United 93.

World Trade Center is dictating the way Americans remember 9/11. The film is propaganda at its height; exploiting the emotions of Americans, creating heroes and personal interest, and bringing the nation back to one of the worst days in American history. World Trade Center would be an interesting film a decade from now, but if the film is not uncovering little-known facts about 9/11, or showing Americans something they do not already know, it is not appropriate at this time.

It is not that the American people are not ready for this film, but that World Trade Center is a sad attempt at evoking emotion in order to sell a summer blockbuster. 9/11 should not be commercialized.