What is a person's life worth? That is the opening question of the movie as a law professor Kenneth Feinberg poses the question to his law students. After the 9/11 attacks, Michael Keaton (as Feinberg) is a lawyer tasked as a Special Master by the President to decide what each one of the 9/11 victims or their next of kin should receive in terms of monetary compensation. The government has stepped in to help with the compensation because to allow individual lawsuits against the major airlines and the businesses within the twin towers would alter the entire domestic economy. The movie is a very well-acted drama of the business aspects of the aftermath of 9/11 put into human terms.
The movie focuses on several groups of characters: the very wealthy who think they are worth more than others, first responders represented by two firemen, and a gay couple whose relationship was not recognized by law at the time. Finally, a civil activist (Stanley Tucci) who lost his wife in the towers, and is fighting to make the compensation from the government "fair" and more personal than the callous, "formula" that Keaton has come up with.
As the movie progresses, we see that Keaton, through Tucci, discovers that every person has an individual story and circumstances that determine their worth. Questions arise during the movie such as, are all people worth the same as human beings or do we determine the worth of an individual by their place in society or the dependents they left behind? As we see in the opening scenes in the law classroom, generally a person is worth what they think they are worth. Yet even then, is our sense of worth overinflated or underinflated? The bottom line is we all have worth and we need to realistically discover what that worth is. What are you as an individual adding to society?
Compelling aspects of the film were the use of actual footage of the attacks on 9/11 and the aftermath, including pictures of those trying to locate their loved ones who were missing or more likely incinerated during the attacks on the towers. It made for a more realistic look and remembrance of just how horrific that day was in American history. Music, especially opera music, was prevalent in Keaton's character's life. As the chaos and turmoil are going on around him, he often has his earphones on and is listening to opera music, which seems to isolate him as to what is going on around him. However, as the stress mounts, he is not even able to enjoy the music, because he cannot get the victims out of his mind. It isn't until this point that he changes his attitude and decides to truly help the victims find their worth.
The movie focuses on several groups of characters: the very wealthy who think they are worth more than others, first responders represented by two firemen, and a gay couple whose relationship was not recognized by law at the time. Finally, a civil activist (Stanley Tucci) who lost his wife in the towers, and is fighting to make the compensation from the government "fair" and more personal than the callous, "formula" that Keaton has come up with.
As the movie progresses, we see that Keaton, through Tucci, discovers that every person has an individual story and circumstances that determine their worth. Questions arise during the movie such as, are all people worth the same as human beings or do we determine the worth of an individual by their place in society or the dependents they left behind? As we see in the opening scenes in the law classroom, generally a person is worth what they think they are worth. Yet even then, is our sense of worth overinflated or underinflated? The bottom line is we all have worth and we need to realistically discover what that worth is. What are you as an individual adding to society?
Compelling aspects of the film were the use of actual footage of the attacks on 9/11 and the aftermath, including pictures of those trying to locate their loved ones who were missing or more likely incinerated during the attacks on the towers. It made for a more realistic look and remembrance of just how horrific that day was in American history. Music, especially opera music, was prevalent in Keaton's character's life. As the chaos and turmoil are going on around him, he often has his earphones on and is listening to opera music, which seems to isolate him as to what is going on around him. However, as the stress mounts, he is not even able to enjoy the music, because he cannot get the victims out of his mind. It isn't until this point that he changes his attitude and decides to truly help the victims find their worth.