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jimcirile
Reviews
The Reflecting Pool (2008)
Challenging the Unchallengable
"The Reflecting Pool" may just be the "All the President's Men" of our time. No, it doesn't have Hoffman and Redford. But it is a gripping, chilling and important fact-based investigative drama. Writer/director Jarek Kupsc ("Slumberland") stars as Alex Prokop, a successful hard-hitting Russian/American journalist. As a last gasp before corporate takeover, his editor (Lisa Black) hands Prokop a bombshell assignment -- investigate the official version of 9-11. Prokop, dismissive of 9-11 skeptics, reluctantly teams with grieving father Paul Cooper (the outstanding Joseph Culp) to investigate. After losing his daughter in the attacks, Cooper transformed himself into a 9-11 expert -- at the expense of his marriage. As Prokop and Cooper kick at the hornets' nest, a sickening, carefully orchestrated pattern of deceit emerges and Prokop finds publishing the story may mean curtains on his career.
The well-researched (and exhaustively documented on the DVD) thriller ultimately proves more compelling than 9-11-themed documentaries such as "Loose Change" by taking a narrative approach and by personalizing the story. Disbelieving investigative reporter Prokop is an effective audience surrogate, while the passionate, fragile and self-destructive Cooper grounds the story with heart and soul -- a constant reminder of the human cost of the "war on terror." The script is solid, the characterizations moving. If the film has a flaw, it's in trying to document so much evidence in a narrative structure. Yet by and large, it pulls it off to deliver a chilling and effective message maybe it *can* happen here.
"The Reflecting Pool" that will open eyes, anger some and test the faith of others. But it also finally gives voice to the 48% of Americans distrustful the official 9-11 story, according to a recent Zogby poll. And it's a tour de force from writer/director/actor Jarek Kupsc. See it and draw your own conclusions.