Artist: Terence Blanchard
Title: 25th Hour Finale
Date: March 19, 2005
Spike Lee’s movies are well known for being political in nature, and if there’s one thing his films can boast, it is a strong confrontation of the socio-political issues of the present. While other films released in the wake of September 11th hurriedly chopped out any inadvertent footage of the twin towers, Spike Lee did not shy away from using footage of ground zero in his movie; indeed, he even went so far as to place the central character’s apartment directly overlooking it.So what does this have to do with the score for it? Well, because it figures prominently into the narrative constructed by the album. Consisting of three main elements, Terence Blanchard (a veteran composer for Lee, as well as a Jazz musician) showcases his skill at incorporating jazz for the lighter elements of the movie, “conventional” dramatic scoring for the main themes revolving around Ed Norton’s character, and a lament theme when showing post-9/11 footage of the rubble from the twin-towers. All are present to some degree in this penultimate track from this great soundtrack, and it stands on its own without needing to evoke the memory of the movie for support.
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