Today I present for you viewing consideration a documentary called The Woman Who Wasn't There (2012, No Rating, Originally Made for TV, Available on DVD and Netflix Streaming).
Because we endured another 9/11 observance so recently, I want to review this documentary, which I watched on Netflix Streaming.
On September 11th, 2001, a Spanish woman named Tania Head, who worked for Merrill Lynch, was on the 78th floor of the South Tower when the first plane hit, making her one of only 19 people on the 78th floor or higher who survived. After six days in a coma, Tania awoke in a hospital burn unit, absolutely devastated because Dave, who was her fiance or kinda sorta maybe her husband, had died in the North Tower.
Tania became a symbol of survival because of all she'd been through. Eventually, she helped establish a survivors' network, and became the group's president. She often led tours of the site where the Twin Towers once stood. She became close friends with many other survivors, who felt they could count on her during their darkest times.
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| Tania Head meets with some of New York's political luminaries – Michael Bloomberg, George Pataki, and Rudy Giuliani. |
This documentary is fascinating. No one really knows why Alicia Esteve Head claimed to be a survivor of the attack on New York. Did she long for attention? Did she want to be part of an important group? Was she lonely and found an opportunity to make friends?
Other survivors of 9/11 recount their experiences with Head. She was very popular in their community, and reportedly did not use her story for financial gain. Rather, she donated money to help others.
The film reveals how some of the other survivors became skeptical of Head's story, the details of which changed with various tellings, and how The New York Times eventually reported that her story was a hoax.
But she managed to get away with it until 2007.
The Woman Who Wasn't There is worth watching because it's one darned strange story. I give this documentary The Janie Junebug Highest Seal of Approval.
I hope you find it as interesting as I did.
Happy Viewing!
Infinities of love,
Janie Junebug
At least she donated the money to help others. Sometimes, though, I have a hard time figuring out our fellow humans.
ReplyDeleteI can't even figure out myself.
DeleteWow! I hadn't heard about this before. It certainly sounds interesting
ReplyDeleteNetflix told me I would like it. I love it that at least one entity in the world knows me well.
DeleteThe psychological " need" of this woman to be centre stage, I think, I would have found fascinating
ReplyDeleteDid the documentary show why she did it?
No, no one really knows why she did it, but it wasn't for financial gain. I think she enjoyed the attention tremendously.
DeletePeople fabricate stories for their own personal gain, maybe fame for her. There was a woman who claimed she was a relative to one of the Sandy Hook victims, but she wanted money.
ReplyDeleteI will certainly watch this documentary. Thanks for sharing.
Since she didn't do it for money, I think she wanted to belong to a group, especially one with a high profile.
DeleteWow! That is one strange story! I think I'll have to see this.
ReplyDeleteI hope you find it interesting.
DeleteI'd never heard about this--just put it on my "watch instantly" Netflix list!!
ReplyDeleteI hope you like it. Let me know what you think.
DeleteWow...that's nuts!! I haven't heard anything about this one. But I mainline Netflix streaming, so I'm adding this one to my list right now.
ReplyDelete-andi
I, too, mainline Netflix streaming. I wish we lived in the same city so we could shoot up together.
DeleteWow. That was ballsy of her. I wonder what her psychiatric diagnosis is.
ReplyDeleteI don't know, but after the hoax was revealed, she disappeared. Eventually, some people received an email from a Spanish account. The email said she committed suicide. She turned up in New York again after that. I think she might be in Spain now. I Googled her, but I don't remember all the details I read.
DeleteI remember seeing this and being interested then somehow it slipped by me. I love watching docs so this will be one I pick up.
ReplyDeleteI'm a documentary addict. I don't know what's going on in the world now, but I know a lot about the past because of documentaries.
DeleteSee, now, I wouldn't bother watching. Weather it was financial gain or not, she used a HORRIBLE tragedy for her own gain (however warped and twisted, she did get something from this, even if it's not something conventional). It is amazing to me though, that she was able to convince people for so long.
ReplyDeleteAt least she used her deranged story for good.
She used it for good in the sense that she helped real survivors, but then they had to experience learning that their "friend" was a liar.
DeleteThis sounds like a fascinating story and one that should be told over and over again so we never forget the pain and sacrifice on that dreadful day.
ReplyDeleteI think it shows that we have people in this world who will do absolutely anything for attention.
DeleteShe obviously wanted to be "somebody," to be recognized, to be important to other people and help them. Even not taking any money donated is a gesture of selflessness that would make people respect her. It seems like a sad story of her neediness. It sounds like a fascinating story.
ReplyDeleteI don't want to give away too much, but the film includes some interesting information about her childhood that might explain her actions, at least in part.
DeleteOMG! I never heard about this. I would want to watch this just out of curiosity, of course. I have always wondered about people who lie to jump in a limelight--especially when it's people who claim to be murderers and things like that. This one--I am sure any of those people who lived through those events would be extremely offended by a woman who pretended to be there, you know? It doesn't sound like you really get any answers, though. But it would be fascinating to observe. ;)
ReplyDeleteWhen she was spotted in New York after she supposedly committed suicide in Spain, she wouldn't talk to anyone. I don't think she's given any interviews about why she did it.
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