For those of us who were alive at the time, it seems impossible to forget where you were on the day of the September 11 attacks. Almost everyone has a story to tell – how lessons in school paused; how colleagues huddled around radios or televisions together; how they wept in horror at the events that unfolded. It seemed surreal, almost impossible, that such a tragedy could have struck at the heart one of the most famous cities in the world.
When Sara Colangelo’s Worth opens with the noise of an airplane cutting through the piercing blue sky only to cut to scenes of disaster and chaos, it may well bring a lot of those memories flooding back. Victims stagger through the streets, covered in dust and ash; firemen weep at being unable to save more lives; crowds scream and panic. It’s still a very raw, visceral event to watch.
But the majority of the film does not focus on the day itself, rather the two subsequent years in which families of the victims of the 9/11 terror attacks can file for financial settlement. It’s a tricky subject. How much is a life worth? Is there an answer to that? As far as the government is concerned, there is. “And that answer is a number,” says Ken Feinberg.
Feinberg (played by Michael Keaton) believes that renumerating these families is his way of serving his country. What he doesn’t anticipate is that his formula – one where a CFO’s life is worth $14.2bn in comparison to a cleaner’s life at $350k – will stoke yet more grief, hurt and anger amongst the group of victims’ families. He is taken to task by Charles Wolf (Stanley Tucci), a mild-mannered lawyer who lost his wife in the attacks. Together, they must earn the trust of the families and provide them with a financial settlement that is ethical and fair.
The film deals with a lot of heavy legal jargon, with several back and forths debating formulas and strategies. It can be a little dry at times and so this is neatly counterbalanced with several scenes giving background to some of the victims. This is where the film strikes at the emotional depth of the issue. The reality is that this was legal theories versus human feeling and Max Borenstein’s script teeters nicely between both. We learn of stories of bravery and heroism; of lasting love; of complicated marriages; familial disputes; lives lost through sheer coincidence.
There are also some really touching images right the way through Worth. We see the seemingly endless wall of the missing; Charles keeping a sample of his wife’s handwriting; a young boy gazing on the memorial plaque to his firefighter father; a lawyer gazing out of an office window upon the still-smoking ruins. This isn’t a film with fancy camera work or a thumping, sign posting soundtrack. Instead, it allows silent, still moments like this to unfold in amongst all the legal proceedings.
Keaton and Tucci are excellent, as always, in their respective roles. Keaton – as Feinberg – makes one wrong comment after another whilst addressing victims’ families and takes a while to come round to the idea that dispassionate legal formulas cannot be applied to an event such as this. Tucci is meek yet witty; a man of strong morals and a natural spokesperson. A lot of what they have to say is wrapped up in legalese, but in their more intimate moments, they really shine. The supporting cast – made up of the likes of Amy Ryan, Shunori Ramanathan, Tate Donovan, Chris Tardio and Laura Benanti – are all equally strong.
The pacing is a little slow throughout – the film is broken up by date-bearing title cards – before rushing to a frenzy within the last twenty minutes or so. This does make the ending appear rather suddenly and you can’t help but wonder if some of the earlier scenes could have been cut or shortened to make way for a more fleshed out conclusion.
Worth probably wouldn’t have fared well as a cinematic release. It’s not particularly flashy and is driven by a real focus on challenging legal proceedings. But it does manage to tread the balance between sentimentality and fact. There are also some great performances, here, and it offers up another perspective on the aftermath of the 9/11 attacks.
Worth is now streaming on Netflix.
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