Oliver Stone has become sort of a joke over the past couple of years as a radical left-wing conspiracist with a big ego and an even bigger mouth. After the bloated failure of 2004’s “Alexander,” the idea of Stone directing a movie about the Sept. 11 attacks seemed like a recipe for disaster. So it comes as a surprise that it is Stone’s dignity and humility - as well as four terrific performances - that keep “World Trade Center” grounded in emotional realism even as its script lets him down.

The story of two New York Port Authority officers trapped under the rubble of the Twin Towers, “World Trade Center” spends very little time on the attacks itself. It focuses mainly on the two officers - John McLoughlin (Nicolas Cage) and Will Jimeno (Michael Pena) - and their wives Donna (Maria Bello) and Allison (Maggie Gyllenhaal).

Stone treats the material with the respect it deserves. Unlike “United 93,” 2006’s other Sept. 11 movie, “World Trade Center” does show a recreation of the attacks, but it’s straightforward, simple and unsensationalized. Stone plays it straight, with none of the hyperactive stylistic tricks that marred “Natural Born Killers” and “Any Given Sunday.” He lets his actors do much of the heavy lifting, a task for which they are more than suited.

Cage and Pena have the hardest jobs, having to evoke complex emotions while immobilized from the necks down. It would be easy to overact, and if Pena sometimes succumbs to the temptation, Cage never does. It’s a subtle, intense performance overshadowed only by the work of his female co-stars.

Bello is wonderful, embodying Donna’s strength and courage while showing the uncertainty and pain beneath, but Gyllenhaal is even better. Her every word, her every facial expression is perfectly calibrated, revealing layers of emotion and character with the tiniest gestures. One of the best young actresses working, Gyllenhaal transforms every scene she appears in.

She’s the only actor in the movie to completely transcend the screenplay. It’s often cloying and false, dealing in the kind of cliches and crass manipulation a film about the worst tragedy in our lifetimes doesn’t need. “My whole life, I wanted to be a cop,” Jimena says while trapped under tons of rock and metal, and the life is sucked out of the movie.

Moments like this nearly sink the movie on more than one occasion, but Stone and his actors eventually come out on top. It’s far from perfect, but it’s much better than anyone could have reasonably expected. The release of “World Trade Center” marks the official beginning of the 2006 awards season, and if Stone, Cage, Bello or Gyllenhaal find their names being called come Oscar nominations, the honor will be well deserved.

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