# Turning Point: 9/11 and the War on Terror (2021)

> A five-part Netflix docuseries that chronicles the September 11 attacks and how they redrew American politics, security and war.

Canonical page: https://ember.film/tv/108861

## Facts

- Seasons: 1
- Episodes: 5
- Episode runtime: 63 min
- Status: Ended
- Genres: documentary
- Network: Netflix
- Cast: Ronald Reagan, Pope John Paul II, George H. W. Bush, Bill Clinton, Barbara Bush, Condoleezza Rice, John McCain, Saddam Hussein
- TMDB rating: 7.9/10
- IMDb: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt15260794/

## Ember's analysis

- Pacing: measured
- Intensity: moderate
- Complexity: accessible
- Violence: mild
- Tone: sober, serious, reflective, somber

## What critics say

Audiences rate this five-part docuseries positively for its cohesive, personal-story chronicle of the September 11 attacks and their aftermath.

## Synopsis

Turning Point: 9/11 and the War on Terror (2021) is a American documentary miniseries created for Netflix, presented as a single five-episode limited series of roughly sixty-three minutes per episode. Rather than following a scripted protagonist, it assembles archive footage and personal testimony around a cohesive chronicle of the September 11, 2001 attacks on the United States. Archive appearances from figures such as George H. W. Bush, Bill Clinton, Dick Cheney, Donald Rumsfeld, Condoleezza Rice and John McCain anchor the narrative, alongside Saddam Hussein and Ronald Reagan in footage that places the events in a wider political context. The engine of the series is the question of how one morning divided modern history into a before and an after, and each episode traces the decisions, debates and consequences that followed, including the war in Afghanistan, the hunt for the Taliban and the detention facility at Guantanamo Bay. The tone is sober, serious and reflective, with an emphasis on personal stories and the lasting emotional weight of the attacks. Fans of The Vietnam War and other grounded American history documentaries will find resonance here, as will viewers drawn to current events and national security politics.

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