'Turning Point: Generation 9/11' Review: Why Remembering Still Matters
- 7 hours ago
- 3 min read
By Romey Norton - September 3, 2026
September 11, 2001 is one of those moments that divides history into a clear “before” and “after”. The attacks on the World Trade Center and Pentagon, and the crash of United Airlines Flight 93, changed the lives of thousands of people immediately and went on to reshape politics, security, foreign policy, and public attitudes around the world. More than two decades later, Netflix returns to the subject with Turning Point: Generation 9/11, but this time the focus isn't simply on what happened that day. It is on the generation that has grown up in its aftermath. Netflix describes the documentary as an examination of how 9/11 shaped a generation 25 years later, and that perspective gives this film a very clear reason to exist. Ultimately, Turning Point: Generation 9/11 isn't competing with the documentaries that came before it. It is continuing the conversation.
There is certainly no shortage of films and documentaries about 9/11. From United 93 and World Trade Center to documentaries such as 9/11 and Netflix's own Turning Point: 9/11 and the War on Terror, filmmakers have repeatedly returned to the attacks from different perspectives. Netflix's earlier Turning Point was a particularly broad examination, looking at the origins of the attacks and the subsequent War on Terror, including the eventual withdrawal from Afghanistan.
For people who remember September 11, the images remain extraordinarily vivid. For others, 9/11 is something they encountered in a history lesson, through archive footage or from parents, friends and news stories. There is now an entire generation who were either too young to understand what was happening or weren't born when the attacks took place. The documentary uses personal stories to explore that distinction, looking at people whose lives were directly affected by the attacks alongside those who have grown up dealing with their consequences. These varied experiences broaden the story beyond the familiar images of collapsing buildings and emergency services. The focus becomes the long shadow cast by the attacks and the way that shadow has followed people into adulthood.
It is easy to learn that planes were hijacked, buildings were attacked, and thousands of people died. It is considerably harder to understand what came next and why those events still influence conversations about war, security, immigration, terrorism and politics today. Twenty-five years provides enough distance to look at 9/11 with a different perspective. That doesn't make the tragedy less painful, but it does allow difficult questions to be asked about what happened afterwards, what was achieved, what wasn't, and what lessons have actually been learned.
One common denominator is that many young people didn’t understand ‘why’ this happened. What the ‘goal’ was. Which is something a lot of people had to try to understand and grapple with. It’s also clear that there has been a very negative opinion spread, with many young people joining the forces simply to ‘kill terrorists’ - raising children with such hate is quite shocking and unforgiveable.
There are inevitably moments that are difficult to watch. This is still a story about enormous loss, and Generation 9/11 doesn't try to make that easier than it is. There’s plenty of footage from the event and placing those images with people's accounts will always be haunting. There’s footage in Afghanistan, from civilians to troops on the ground, accompanied by interviews from soldiers who were there. We hear first hand accounts about ‘operation allies refuge’, with video footage. These sections are hard to believe. And the interviews feel very candid and honest.
The documentary does well in carefully explaining America’s relationship with the Taliban, Al Qaeda and ISIS. It goes through how American’s were seen as liberators, and then oppressors, and how 9/11 has affected this all these years later. That’s what makes Generation 9/11 different; it’s not necessarily that it tells us something completely new about the morning itself. Instead, it recognises that time has changed the audience listening to the story.
As the 25th anniversary approaches, remembering 9/11 isn't simply about replaying the same footage or recounting the same timeline. It is about making sure people who weren't there can understand what happened, why it happened, what followed, and how much of the world we live in today was shaped by it. History only remains useful when we continue to question it, understand it and pass it on accurately. Turning Point: Generation 9/11 is a timely reminder that remembering isn't about living in the past; it's about understanding the present.
'Turning Point: Generation 9/11' is streaming now on Netflix. Watch it HERE with a Netflix subsciption.
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