Duke University: "Controversial Film Draws Curious Crowd"

Controversial 9/11 film draws curious crowd

By: Andrei Scumpu
Issue date: 2/22/07 Section: News
Last update: 2/22/07 at 8:38 AM EST

Director Mike Berger and writer Rebecca Cerese, a resident of Chapel Hill, spoke Tuesday night in Richard White Lecture Hall and presented their film, "Improbable Collapse," which presents a controversial take on the events of Sept. 11.

The documentary retraced the events of the attacks on the World Trade Center, analyzed evidence, interviewed experts and reviewed government records to present an argument pinning the collapse of the World Trade Center on the U.S. government.

Opening with footage of the Twin Towers' collapse, the film claimed that Americans' rights and freedoms have been curtailed by the government's policies stemming from the Sept. 11 attacks.

"The true duty of a patriot is to protect his country from its government," the movie stated, supporting the producers' message, which they discussed following the screening.

The audience, composed of both Duke students and local residents, engaged in an academic conversation with Berger and Cerese regarding the possibility of a Sept. 11 government conspiracy from both scientific and sociopolitical perspectives.

Berger contended that Sept. 11 was a conspiracy between the government and powerful corporations to further amass power. He said 7 World Trade Center, a third and smaller tower which collapsed, housed the second-largest CIA office as well as U.S. Securities Exchange and Commission files pertaining to Enron and WorldCom.

"Is our government really a republic? When this nation was founded we did not have an entrenched politician class," Berger said. "So we must stand up and fight before our freedom disintegrates any more."

Senior Strouse Campbell, who has conducted research on Sept. 11 conspiracy theories, organized the presentation, prompted by his frustration with the public's ignorance of the facts behind the incident, he said.

"It's amazing how few people know about the third World Trade Center building that collapsed, WTC-7," Campbell said.

He added that the most difficult aspect of hosting the screening was collaborating with the administration.

"It was hard to find faculty sponsorship, as no one wanted their name attached to this controversial event," he said.

Though there was no protest at the film screening, some students said they opposed the premise of the documentary.

"I think that these students disgraced our university.... I think they've insulted everyone who perished on that tragic day and the soldiers who died in the line of duty," said senior Stephen Miller, executive director of the Duke Conservative Union and a Chronicle columnist.

"The only way you could support such a claim is if you have a deep-seated hatred of America. They also have a right to deny the Holocaust and to say the Earth is flat," added Miller, who did not attend the screening. "In a free society, it's incumbent to hold people responsible for what they say."

Other students said they attended the event out of curiosity.

"I saw some flyers and wanted to explore different hypotheses," senior Leonard Medlock said. "Personally, I don't believe in all this, but I feel they had a strong point and [the movie] helps people keep an open mind."

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