Homeland Security (2004) (TV)

Director:

Daniel Sackheim

Writer (WGA):

Christopher Crowe (written by)

Release Date:

11 April 2004 (USA)

Genre:

Drama | War

Tagline:

The days that changed our world

Plot:

Homeland Security and the September 11th disaster

Plot Keywords:

Terrorist | FBI | CIA | Afghanistan | September 11 2001

Awards:

1 win

Cast

Scott Glenn	...	Joe Johnson
Tom Skerritt	...	Admiral Ted McKee
Grant Show	...	Bradley Brand
Marisol Nichols	...	Agent Jane Fulbar
Kal Penn	...	Harrison
Ross Gibby	...	Agent Frank Heinhoff
Leland Orser	...	Sol Binder
Stephi Lineburg	...	Melissa McKee (as Stephanie Lineburg)
Beth Broderick	...	Elise McKee
Nicholas Guilak	...	Saif Khan
Michael Cudlitz	...	Agent Tango 12
Megan Gallagher	...	Margaret
Chuma Hunter-Gault	...	Agent Frank Johnson
Ben Youcef	...	Yusef Adel
Tracy Scoggins	...	Catherine Adel

Also Known As:

I mera pou allaxe ton kosmo (Greece) [el]
Segurança Máxima (Brazil) [pt]
Seguridad nacional en peligro (Argentina) [es]
Zitima ethnikis asfaleias (Greece) [el]

MPAA:

Rated R for some violence.

Runtime:

88 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.78 : 1

Sound Mix:

Stereo

Certification:

UK:15 | Argentina:13 | USA:R | Germany:12

Filming Locations:

Los Angeles, California, USA

Company:

Craftsman Films

People are just human

I rented this movie the other day on DVD and knew nothing about it other than what was on the jacket. I read other users comments and felt compelled to comment as well. Despite the low budget casting and filming processes, I felt that the message conveyed in this film was very good. The message? Well, one that came across to me was that no matter what status a person has in society, people are just human.

Considering the finger pointing for blame on the terrorist attacks (past and present), this movie conveyed that we are all human with frailties. How would a mother and father respond to their potential son-in-law's father being imprisoned and considering how smoothly he had logical answers directed toward him when interrogated. We can all be easily fooled and terrorists are experts with intensive training to play upon human traits, whether we are an American or not.

One thing, though, that I wished this movie would have attempted to clarify more was regarding Homeland Security set up and its' boundaries for the homeland. Is America going to have another agency with such power it can abuse and terrorize Americans similarly to the IRS? I agree, having an agency that combines databases of other agencies sounds cool, but the message I derived from this movie is that this set up for another agency was vastly opportunistic. Hence, I personally felt terror from this movie in this regard and how this agency will be run and what boundaries/limitations have been set, if any. After all, even I had trouble with Tom Skerritt's role of even being considered to set up such an operation ... just not the type or very credible ... just a nice old meandering neighborly guy, eh? Sure, like this is the kind of man now in charge? Perhaps keep him on the Lifetime movie channel. But, gee, maybe using him in this role helped to use this movie as a tool to influence people to be supportive enough to pay more taxes to support this new undefined (unrestricted?) powerful agency? Am I the only one who was left with feeling more terror about this new agency after viewing this film?

Regarding other non-ending pieces and parts, I felt that this was intentional to provoke thought processing for viewers. If there had been more film with the tracking down of the terrorists and other things, it would have taken away from the human quality of this film.

With that said, I felt this movie was very good in conveying that people are human and if it helped to teach some people not to let their emotions take charge in serious decision-making , then it succeeded in that degree.