After watching Oliver Stone's "World Trade Center," I was glad a film about the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks was made to show the good that came out of this dark day. Stone put all of his controversial characteristics aside to make a very noncontroversial film.

Stone has been widely known throughout the years for taking on issues that are already controversial and making them even more so, whether it be "JFK," or "Born on the Fourth of July."

With "World Trade Center," Stone decided to focus less on the issues of this tragic day and more on the people who worked so hard and risked their lives to help others who were in need of help.

The characters Stone focuses most of his attention on are Port Authority police officers, Sgt. John McLoughlin (Nicholas Cage) and Officer Will Jimeno (Michael Pena), as well as their wives, Donna (Maria Bello) and Allison (Maggie Gyllenhaal), respectively.

Contrary to their job titles, the two officers are not playing the rescuers, but instead are the rescued, as they are the ones spending most of the film trying to survive the day's events.

The film begins like any other day as McLoughlin and Jimeno, along with the rest of the Port Authority police officers, head to work, oblivious as to how their lives will change forever in the next 24 hours.

It doesn't take long before Stone sets the day's events in motion, which makes sense factually, since the first building was struck around 8:45 a.m. on Sept. 11, 2001. McLoughlin and Jimeno's unit is called upon to help evacuate the World Trade Center after hearing that a plane had supposedly crashed into one of the towers.

These opening moments are some of the most shocking and realistic images put on the screen since Spielberg took us back to Omaha Beach in "Saving Private Ryan."

Though not as graphically violent as Spielberg's movie, Stone brings such a realistic feeling to the screen in the first 25 minutes — it feels less like a film and more like the actors have actually been transported to this day in history.

Shots of debris falling from the sky, people screaming in terror unable to understand what has just happened and the sight of the tower engulfed in flames are images the audience will never forget and find to be incredibly realistic.

McLoughlin grabs a group of men, which includes Jimeno, to go in and evacuate everyone still inside the tower.

Sights and sounds of people covered in blood and ash from the damage fill the tower, while a rumor spreads that the other tower has been hit.

As the two officers, pinned under about 20 feet of rubble, try to figure out ways to stay alive, the outside world is trying to put things together and make sense of all that has happened.

While rescue teams try to find out who is dead, who's alive and who is missing, the wives of the two men are told that there has been no sign of their husbands.

Each actress takes on her role differently, and both performances accomplish what the wives set out for — women who try to be strong, but have moments in which they feel as lost as their husbands.

Bello puts together her best scene at her character's husband's station when she explodes in a fit of rage after being given false information. The character is then somehow able to pull herself back together as the strong woman she has been throughout the whole film.

Many people have said it is too soon for a film to be made about Sept. 11, and I am not here to disagree with them, because for some people, the images are still too shocking and painful.

In the film's defense, I will say this is a movie completely dedicated to honoring and paying tribute to the people who gave their lives trying to help people on one of America's darkest days.

In addition to the powerful performances, the production design by Jan Roelfs and her team is amazing and does an unbelievable job at recreating the damage that was done.

Sept. 11 had a huge effect around the world, and after seeing this film, it feels as if Stone is trying his best to care more about what happened to some of the people affected by this day and how Sept. 11 changed America forever.