Out of the Clear Blue Sky is hardly the first documentary about 9/11, but its chronicle of bond trader Cantor Fitzgerald tells a uniquely epic tale of a corporate family. All of the 658 employees who began that dreadful day at company headquarters on the World Trade Center's top five floors lost their lives, representing nearly a quarter of the attack's total casualties.
Among the company's 302 survivors was CEO Howard Lutnick, who arrived -- at the moment the planes did -- after accompanying his son on his first day of kindergarten. Lutnick's brother, Gary, wasn't so fortunate. Nor was filmmaker Danielle Gardner's brother, Douglas. Her personal connection permeates the movie and adds to its raw intimacy.
Within 48 hours of September 11, Lutnick was promising through widely televised sobs to take care of the Cantor Fitzgerald community: Cantor would now turn over 25 percent of corporate profits to the victims’ families for five years and treat them to 10 years of healthcare. Overnight the man with the "ruthless and cutthroat reputation on Wall Street" became "the face of the tragedy" to a nation in shock who shared in his grief and found solace in his generosity.
One week later, the erstwhile hero was being compared with Al-Qaeda. With entire corporate divisions wiped out, Cantor dropped missing employees from the payroll. Sympathizers saw the decision as a necessary evil to salvage what was left of the firm and generate cash to support the living, while detractors vilified it as unspeakable act by a cold-hearted Judas. In a media frenzy of denunciation, Lutnick was now the persona non-grata of the hour.
With some 6,000 mourners to attend to and a decimated company to run, he had more urgent concerns than his Q rating. Out of the Clear Blue Sky plunges into the murky grey Ground Zero and beyond to chart how the employees, the chief executive and the company itself rose from the ashes in hopes of rebirth. In the process, it explores poignant questions. What does it take to bring back a business from near death? Which is more ethical, letting that business go or focusing on the bottom line?
Within 14 years of the catastrophe, Cantor Fitzgerald fulfilled its word to its employees, an $180 million obligation. Another $17 million went to a crisis relief fund managed by Lutnick’s stalwart sister, Edie. And judging by Gardner's interviews with surviving loved ones and colleagues as well as footage of gatherings over the course of nearly a dozen years, the emotional support provided by the forum can only be valued at priceless.
Special screenings of the film are scheduled in selected theaters around the country on September 11 at 7 pm.
