Oliver Stone talks to Philip Dodd about American Heroism, controversial film-making and the risks of putting 9/11 into the movies as his film World Trade Center prepares to open in Britain.
WORLD TRADE CENTER
Nicholas Cage as John McLoughlin in Oliver Stone's new film World Trade Center
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OLIVER STONE
This evening Night Waves returns to the air with an interview with the American film director, Oliver Stone.
His latest film, World Trade Center, is a harrowing account of twenty-four hours in the life of two New York policemen caught under the rubble of the Twin Towers on 9/11.
Unlike other recent films which have dared to broach the subject, World Trade Center marks the most mainstream cinematic take on the shattering events of five years ago.
Themes familiar to Stone's other films such as epic heroism and masculinity are central in this movie again, as is the big-budget cinematography and painstaking recreation of the Ground Zero site.
On Night Waves, Matthew Sweet talks to Oliver Stone about his controversial decision to recreate the rubble-strewn Twin Towers and about the film's fictionalisation of some real-life characters, a move which has drawn criticism from the families of those who died.
FREE THINKING BLOGS
The philosopher Jonathan Ree presents a guide to Radio 3's new Free Thinking blogs.
They are aimed at encouraging debate and ideas about topics such as community, nationhood, and identity - and which all come together for a Free Thinking Festival taking place in Liverpool later this year.
GERMAN RESPONSES TO THE HOLOCAUST
There'll also be an examination of how contemporary German culture is responding to the Holocaust, as a new bestselling German book explores the humour which arose during the Nazi regime.
The book follows the success of recent films such as Sophie Scholl and the critically acclaimed Downfall, which portrayed Hitler's final days.
Are a new generation of German writers and film-makers reassessing the Nazi legacy by pushing through the taboos strongly felt by previous generations?
WAYS OF SEEING
Tim Marlowe launches a new Night Waves series, Ways of Seeing, in which art critics pay homage to the critics who shaped the way they look at art.
