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We have seen many a film & TV show play upon the events of September 11, 2001 and the tragedy that shook a nation. But most of these programs and movies have been made in America by Americans.  Now we can witness a Spec Drama through the eyes of Argentinean writer/director Santiago Amigorena as he pulls together American and French actors for his film made in France and Italy. The film is Quelques Jours en Septembre (2006) and has recently been released in the United States as A Few Days In September, starring Juliette Binoche, John Turturro, Sara Forestier & Tom Riley. Although he makes a very late appearance in the film, but his role is more than a cameo, the film also features Nick Nolte in a very key part.

The movie begins on September 1, 2001. Irene Montano (Binoche) is a former spy who still works for the government. She has recently been contacted by an old partner, Elliott (Nolte). She seeks out his estranged daughter, Orlando (Forestier) a young beauty living with her grandmother on a small farm, raising geese. After some moments of distrust, they leave for the Paris, arriving at a seedy hotel where more than one person is seeking Elliott. These include his stepson from America, David (Riley), who neither Orlando nor Irene knew about, as well as another former associate, the deadly and psychotic William Pound (Turturro).

A game of cat and mouse evolves as the spy and her two charges encounter a couple of bankers (Mathieu Demy & Said Amadis) from the Middle East, who have information and an interest in Elliott due to his information he sells them for millions of dollars; another former acquaintance and spy, Igor Zyberski (Magne Brekke), who has information about Elliott, but must survive to get it to Irene.

As the days lead up to 9-11, the tension mounts as to who will survive in addition to the odd love story that develops. It’s a guessing game about who will kill who.

The story and concept are interesting. It basically pits David against the Eastern hemisphere as he tries to discover why America is hated, despised or envied by other countries. Yet it also shows how, for the right price, our own people may be willing to sell us out. A conspiracy theorist would have a field day watching A Few Days In September.

Binoche and most of the cast do a fine job, as would be expected. The real scene stealer is Turturro. His skewed thought process and his brutality played very straight due to his psychosis make for a very interesting and entertaining character. It’s even quite funny at times, although dark.

Forestier is also very intriguing as Orlando. She really makes the viewer feel that she is angry with the world and possibly a bit unstable, herself. Her eyes express a lot of her emotions.

On occasion the movie takes a weird little side street, but it makes it’s way back on to the main road soon enough. It could use a little more action, but this is shot in more of a film noir style than an action flick. Even though it’s not in black and white, as most noir films are, the colors and tones of the entire production are very muted or neutral, pressing down the imagery and bringing the characters to the forefront.

The movie was originally released in France on September 6, 2006, just days before the anniversary of the event. But if the actual event is upsetting, there are no reenactments or visuals of the towers being destroyed. Despite the subject matter, Amigorena stayed away from the docudrama visuals.

The DVD is nearly two hours in length, widescreen and plays in Dolby Digital Stereo. The film bounces back and forth between French and English, but there are English subtitles. The only extras are trailers.

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