While a somewhat boring and unaffecting story on the surface, 25th hour feels like an obvious allegory. Basically, Spike Lee has taken a story about a man who has finally been "touched" after a life of dealing drugs and grafted it onto the aftermath of the "touching" of the US on Sept 11.
Edward Norton stares down his last day before being locked away in prison, and the film picks up right at the beginning of the day, the start of the aftermath. We get a tone poem of anger and grief, the nature of blame and guilt, resilience and spirit... some might take the symbols as American flag-waving, but I personally thought the film was actually a cry for levity, a cry against building business on the backs of others' suffering, a cry out for recognition of who's truly accountable, a cry out against the apparent "responsible" reaction to the eventual repercussions of those selfish practices, and a plea for a more sensible choice. A choice that may be riskier, but is the only chance for a positive outcome.
The film is an almost-epic, but it's maybe too much personal baggage heaped onto a story that wasn't meant to support it.
Edward Norton stares down his last day before being locked away in prison, and the film picks up right at the beginning of the day, the start of the aftermath. We get a tone poem of anger and grief, the nature of blame and guilt, resilience and spirit... some might take the symbols as American flag-waving, but I personally thought the film was actually a cry for levity, a cry against building business on the backs of others' suffering, a cry out for recognition of who's truly accountable, a cry out against the apparent "responsible" reaction to the eventual repercussions of those selfish practices, and a plea for a more sensible choice. A choice that may be riskier, but is the only chance for a positive outcome.
The film is an almost-epic, but it's maybe too much personal baggage heaped onto a story that wasn't meant to support it.