"It all came so close to never happening. This life came so close to never happening."

It is drug dealer Monty's final 24 hours before he begins a seven-year prison sentence. As he prepares for his going-away party with his childhood friends Frank and Jacob and his girlfriend Naturelle, he wrestles with remorse over his fate and the terror of what awaits him behind bars.

Spike Lee's 25th Hour is one of the first Hollywood productions to directly address the aftermath of 9/11. From its opening credit sequence, which slowly reveals two pillars of light commemorating the six-month anniversary of the attacks, to the unforgettable long take in which Frank and Jacob converse as they look down on the rubble at Ground Zero, the film confronts the trauma in an effort to portray a city still in recovery. Though Lee is perhaps best known for his groundbreaking films exploring the diverse range of the Black experience, 25th Hour remains an essential portrait of New York, one that demonstrates how confronting trauma head-on can be a necessary step toward finding ways to heal. Its final sequence is among the most powerful of Lee's career, a deeply affecting meditation on fate and what could have been.