It’s been nearly 25 years since the tragic events of Sept. 11, 2001, left the nation reeling. But the memory of the attacks lives on vividly in “Turning Point: Generation 9/11,” a new Netflix documentary that examines how that day shaped the next generation and one of the darkest chapters in American history.
From children who lost their parents on 9/11 to journalists who covered the early years of the War on Terror and young Marines who inherited the conflict, the documentary, which premiered Sept. 2, contextualizes these firsthand accounts of the attacks and how their aftermath continues to affect America today.
Beyond revisiting a play-by-play of what happened on 9/11, the film also highlights the politicians, including President Donald Trump, who helped carry on the global military campaign against terrorism launched by the George W. Bush administration.
One part of the documentary revisits Trump’s first presidential campaign, when he used right-wing foreign policy rhetoric to appeal to voters.
“What we saw very early on was that the War on Terror was a pathway to power for inflamed nativist elements that felt the country was further and further slipping away from them,” Spencer Ackerman, author of “Reign of Terror,” said in the doc. “Trump’s movement recognized that there was still a tremendous amount of political potency to be had from the War on Terror.”
