THIS is the true story of two New York Port Authority cops who became trapped in the wreckage of the World Trade Center on September 11, 2001.

Only 20 people were pulled from the rubble, and John McLoughlin (Nicolas Cage) and Will Jimeno (Michael Pena) were numbers 18 and 19.

Oliver Stone takes us right to the heart of the drama of that fateful day as we enter the building with the policemen and watch it collapse around them in a deafening roar.

As time passes, their wives Donna (Maria Bello) and Allison (Maggie Gyllenhaal) begin to suspect the worst when, actually, John and Will are lying in the remains of the elevator shaft between the two towers, hemmed in by fallen slabs of concrete.

The sheer horror and claustrophobia of their predicament is hideous and there is nothing they can do but wait to be rescued.

Cue former Marine Dave Karnes (Michael Shannon), who travels to the scene of the disaster to do his bit and as a result ends up re-joining the forces to fight in the subsequent war against terror'.

All the worst and best things that human beings are capable of are coupled together in this story of survival against all the odds that is guaranteed to bring a tear to your eye - if for nothing else than the fact that you know this is no fictional Hollywood blockbuster but a true account of these shocking events.

By Alison Klabacher.