25 Movies About 9/11 That Will Move You To Tears

The terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, left an indelible mark on life in the United States and across the globe. Many of those who were alive and old enough to remember that terrible day recall it with vivid imagery. These people can tell you exactly where they were when two hijacked planes hit the twin towers of the World Trade Center. For some, revisiting those tragic events proves too painful; for others, delving into 9/11 stories provides a step in a continual healing process. In the decades since foreign terrorists attacked the U.S., many filmmakers have tried to highlight the heroes of that day who sacrificed themselves to save others. In the late summer weeks leading up to the anniversary, many news networks and streaming services broadcast sobering documentaries to commemorate the day. Other directors created beauty from the ashes of the attacks, weaving fictional stories that resonate with audiences.

Television shows like "Friends" and "Saturday Night Live" also addressed the events of 9/11, as Hollywood processed the tragedy. Below, we've curated a list of 25 excellent films about September 11th: Some of these films deal directly with the horrific day, while others feature the overwhelming impact September 11th had on people whose lives were forever altered. Some films, like "World Trade Center" did well at the box office while others, like "Ash Tuesday," barely made a blip on the cinematic radar. Still, all will likely have you reaching for the tissue box.

While many 9/11 films focus solely on the attack on the World Trade Center, "United 93" provides insight into the heroic actions of passengers on United Airlines 93. The flight took off from Newark, New Jersey, and was hijacked 45 minutes later. Per the Baltimore Sun, many onboard had learned of the World Trade Center attacks, and assumed their hijackers planned to target the White House or the Capitol in Washington D.C. A group of passengers accepted their own fates, but chose to protect the lives of countless others: They forced the plane to crash in a field near Shanksville, Pennsylvania. There were no survivors.

Per NBC News, writer-director Paul Greengrass used the 9/11 Commission Report and conversations with victims' loved ones to attempt to accurately portray the events of the flight, but invented details as well to fill in the gaps. Greengrass does a phenomenal job of weaving the ordinary with the fear-filled chaos that must have gripped those on board. In an interview with EW about "United 93," Greengrass said, "The point is, it's the most important event of my lifetime. And Hollywood has a long and honorable tradition of processing reality. Somehow we have to start to try and make sense of what happened that day." The film provides a stark look at evil, and conversely, bravery in action. We dare you not to cry with passenger Todd Beamer's "Let's roll" proclamation just before he and others perform the ultimate act of heroism.

"Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close" was one of the first major 9/11 movies to deal with the emotional impact on children who lost a parent in the attacks. Oskar (Thomas Horn) is a neurodivergent 9-year-old who can't grasp the death of his father, Thomas Schell (Tom Hanks). The elder Schell loved to send his son on treasure hunts, and a year after the collapse of the towers, the boy embarks on a final quest left by his dad. In the process, the young Schell learns much about himself and begins to heal.

Hanks appeared on the Today Show to promote the film and talked about the importance of catharsis in the movie-going experience. Hanks explained, "Sometimes I think that you realize there is an important issue that is being addressed perhaps for the first time, or maybe in a brand new (way) ... and in this case it comes out in 'Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close.'" Unfortunately, many critics found the film disingenuous and heavy-handed, with the Toronto Star's Peter Howell calling it "9/11 porn" and The Guardian's Peter Bradshaw declaring it a "meaty whiff of phoney-baloney." However, at the 2012 Academy Awards, the film still grabbed a best picture nomination and a best actor in a supporting role nomination for the great Max Von Sydow. Although the harsh criticisms are somewhat merited, it's hard not to feel moved by Oskar Schell's struggles.

Released on Netflix in 2020, "Worth" examines 9/11 from a legal standpoint. Written by Max Borenstein, the biopic stars Michael Keaton as Kenneth Feinberg, an attorney and law professor at Columbia University who is named Special Master of the September 11th Victim Compensation Fund. "Worth" depicts Feinberg's struggles to see the families of 9/11 victims receive just compensation. Feinberg also wrote the best-selling book, "What is a Life Worth?" which examines the painful task of attributing monetary value to the life of a human being, and which provides the source material for the film. The star-studded cast of "Worth" includes Amy Ryan as Feinberg's law partner, Camille Brios, and Stanley Tucci as 9/11 widower Charles Wolf.

In an exclusive interview at Looper, Borenstein reflected on 9/11, stating, "I think it's one of those events that is seared in our memory, largely because everything in our lives changed forever. It's a lot like the Kennedy assassination was for another generation — one of those things that the event itself was dramatic and tragic, but beyond that, it just reshaped the way we as Americans, and I think citizens of the world, kind of conceive our place in it." "Worth" empathetically reminds us that for those who lost loved ones on 9/11, the pain has never truly gone away.

In 2021, the Tony Award-winning 9/11 musical "Come From Away" made its television debut on Apple TV+. Based on the true story of 6,759 people whose U.S.-bound flights were grounded in the small Canadian town of Gander, Newfoundland, the musical showcases the hope that rose amid the uncertainty of September 11, 2001. Gander holds a population of only 9,651 people, and the island's population swelled with the stranded passengers (aka "the plane people"). For the next five days, the citizens of Newfoundland opened their homes and hearts to the plane people, providing them with places to sleep, food, and kindness. The story sounds too good to be true — as if the musical had created a fantasy world. Yet in a dark moment, ordinary people acted upon a desire to help others. Jenn Colella, who plays pilot Beverly Bass, spoke to Broadway.com about filming the show for an audience of 9/11 frontline workers and survivors, saying, "We tried to prepare ourselves mentally and emotionally for that moment. We knew it was going to feel overwhelming."

Per Deadline, the musical ends its Broadway run in 2022, and stands as the third longest-running Broadway musical (behind "Dear Evan Hansen" and "Tina-The Tina Turner Musical"). "Come From Away" takes the stories of real-life people and weaves them through excellent songwriting to convey the interconnected nature of humanity.

The 2019 award-winning "Windows on the World" saw 9/11 framed as a heart-rending and heart-warming immigrant's tale. Ryan Guzman stars as Fernando, a young Mexican who watches the Twin Towers collapse from his television screen and immediately worries about his father Balthazar (Edward James Olmos), who immigrated to New York City in search of a better life. Balthazar works at the famed Windows on the World restaurant, located on the top floors of the World Trade Center's North Tower, and remains missing weeks after the attacks, his undocumented status standing as an obstacle in discerning his fate. Fernando embarks on a journey to find his dad and uncovers truths about both himself and his father along the way.

Although "Windows on the World” is set against a 9/11 backdrop, the showcased themes of racial discrimination and immigrant life resonate in today's world as well. In an exclusive screening of the film, "Windows on the World" screenwriter, Robert Mailer Anderson, told The Wrap, "We're fighting cultural wars right now, and we have to create empathy and understanding. The current political climate has made a story like this more necessary." The father-son drama was a father-son effort behind-the-scenes, too: Edward James Olmos' son, Michael, directed the moving tale.

Released in 2017, the 9/11 documentary "Man in Red Bandana" tells the true story of Welles Remy Crowther, who displayed true heroism in the World Trade Center evacuation. Crowther chose to lead others to safety before perishing in the tower's collapse. He wasn't a firefighter or first responder -– he was an equities trader. Yet, he sprung into action, and his story wasn't known until months later, when survivors recalled a man in a red bandana who saved their lives. Crowther's actions on 9/11 have inspired many to pay tribute to him, and to live their lives in a way that honors his memory.

The documentary's title stems from the red bandana Crowther had tied around his face while saving countless lives. In the film, Crowther's father, Jefferson Crowther, recounts gifting his son with two red handkerchiefs, "one to show and one to blow": Welles Crowther ensured he always had two red bandanas on him for the rest of his life. The documentary features the original Lyle Lovett song, "One Red Bandana" and narration by Gwyneth Paltrow. It showcases interviews with Crowther's loved ones along with those he saved. Coincidentally, during filming, Paltrow discovered that her parents were long-time friends of the Crowther family (per People Magazine), making her participation in the project all the more poignant. Crowther was just 24 years old when he perished, and his story is truly awe-inspiring.

The second 9/11 film directed by Kathryn Bigelow on our list, "The Hurt Locker" carries some of the same emotional weight and harrowing cinematography of "Zero Dark Thirty." Bigelow's first feature since 2002, "The Hurt Locker" is full of the bleak thrill of war. The film features Jeremy Renner as Sergeant First Class William James — the leader of a U.S. Explosive Ordnance Disposal (EOD) team in Iraq. The sergeant's job entails securing areas strewn with Improvised Explosive Devices (IED), a common weapon of mercenaries and terrorists. Bigelow isn't afraid to show the horrifying realities of war: James witnesses the deaths of his team members, and of a local Iraqi boy, Beckham (Christopher Sayegh), who he's befriended. When James returns stateside and attempts to settle into civilian life with his family, he finds he's been so conditioned to war, that's the only situation in which he knows how to function.

In an interview with CinemaBlend, Renner talked about the intensely arduous process of donning a 100-pound bomb deflection suit, and how proud he was of the film. He said of the finished product, "it's very intelligent, and has a lot of great character driving elements in it that drive the story. I think all across the board ... it has something to say about human drama." In 2010, "The Hurt Locker" won six Academy Awards (including best picture).

"Rebuilding Hope: The Children of 9/11" is a riveting documentary that first aired in 2021 on the Magnolia Network. The film chronicles the lives and families of four children who were born after their fathers perished in the attacks on the Pentagon and the World Trade Center. People.com has spent the past twenty years covering these families, and paid tribute to them before the film's release. Siblings Nicole Gartenberg Pila and Jamie Gartenberg (who lost their father Jim), Ronald Milam Jr. (who lost his father, Army Major Ronald Milam), and Alexa Smagala (whose father was New York firefighter, Stan Smagala) recount their struggles and triumphs as they grew up in the shadow of 9/11.

Per People, Smagala shares the following in the film, "What happened to my dad made me who I am today — and I want people to know that." A review published in the Independent discusses the lack of anger any of the profiled children hold for those who killed their fathers. For each of these now-adult children, their fathers left legacies they long to live up to, and the film allows viewers to grow attached to each of the families, who are portrayed in an authentic light.

The 2021 9/11-related legal drama "The Mauritanian" poses further troubling questions about Guantánamo Bay. Based on a memoir by Mohamedou Ould Slahi, the film centers on the post-9/11 imprisonment of Slahi at Guantanamo Bay. Starring Jodie Foster as Slahi's attorney Nancy Hollander, Shailene Woodley as her associate Teri Duncan, and Tahar Rahim as Slahi, "The Mauritanian" highlights torture suffered by detainees at the Guantánamo Detention Center. Hollander and Duncan become horrified when they learn of the abuse Slahi received at the hands of his captors and his wrongful incarceration, and they work tirelessly to get him released. Slahi was released 14 years after his arrest without ever being formally charged with any crime.

The film marked Foster's first starring role in a major studio film since the 2013 movie "Elysium." Foster spoke to Deadline about her view of "The Mauritanian" and explained, "I think this film deals with, obliquely, the residual effect of what 9/11 meant to Americans and what it made us become. It's a way to process this weird transformation our country went through at this particular moment in time." Rahim plays a compelling and sympathetic Slahi, and it's easy to feel engaged with his character.

Released in 2004, "The Hamburg Cell" is a British-Canadian television movie offering a fictionalized account of the lives of the 9/11 terrorists. The film depicts the slow radicalization of Western Muslims in Hamburg, Germany, who transform into militant extremists and ultimately, form a terrorist cell and become involved with the 9/11 attacks. Many of the 19 9/11 hijackers came from middle-class, moderate backgrounds, with their militancy beginning in early adulthood. "The Hamburg Cell" focuses on Ziah Jarrah (Karim Saleh) who, to those who knew him, was an unlikely member of the Hamburg terrorist cell. Jarrah moved to Germany from Lebanon to attend university, and kept his extremist views a secret from family and friends.

"The Hamburg Cell" injects Jarrah and his cohorts with authentic thoughts and emotions — to a certain extent, they are humanized. The film begs a question that eerily can be posed in the political climate of the U.S. today as well: How do educated, rational people fall for lies that vilify entire swaths of humanity? There are no protagonists in "The Hamburg Cell," only broken, misguided people who destroy countless lives based on extremist beliefs. The Guardian praised the film in a review, saying, "If there is a more important, more urgent story to be told than this, I can't think of it: the story of the 9/11 hijackers."

Every year as the 9/11 anniversary approaches, news networks and streaming services are inundated with documentaries about the attacks. Several of these documentary films stand the test of time, and "9/11 Fifteen Years Later" — a look back at the 2002 "9/11" documentary by the Naudet brothers – truly shines. The French-American Gédéon and Jules Naudet were in New York City on September 11, 2001, to film a rookie firefighter with historic Engine 7, Ladder 1 when Jules accompanied firefighters on a call at the World Trade Center. Although Gédéon initially stayed behind at the station, he soon joined his brother. The filmmakers recorded the events inside of the tower, providing the most extensive video footage of the attacks.

15 years after the initial release, additional footage and narration from actor Denis Leary were added and CNN aired the final result. The Naudet brothers' film proves tough to watch — the terror and death filling the camera lens is unfiltered and may evoke a visceral reaction. However, as time passes, it becomes easy to detach from the sobering horror of 9/11, and "9/11 Fifteen Years Later" helps the world never forget. The brothers sat down with Vanity Fair to discuss their memories of the chaotic moments spent inside the World Trade Center. Jules Naudet remembered, "The light changes and everything becomes pitch-black. I definitely think the building is coming down. I was afraid of dying."

In 2008, the History Channel premiered "102 Minutes that Changed America," a powerful 9/11 documentary. The film focuses on the time that elapsed between the moment American Airlines Flight 11 hit the North Tower, and the moment the World Trade Center collapsed. A collection of raw video footage from hundreds of witnesses allows audiences to view those 102 minutes in real-time and the end result is sobering. The documentary provides a historical record for those who didn't experience 9/11 firsthand. Emergency calls and recorded voicemails during the attacks palpably capture the tsunami of emotions experienced by people in New York City on that fateful day.

Sans analysis, narration, and soundtrack, "102 Minutes that Changed America" is harrowing and contains some painful footage to watch. Filmmakers Nicole Rittenmeyer and Seth Skundrick also edited and produced "9/11 The Days After" as a follow-up to their hard-hitting documentary. "102 Minutes that Changed America" didn't follow an outline or a script — the collected footage the movie contains speaks heartbreaking volumes all on its own.