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Film: United 93 [R] 111 minutes
WIP™ Scale: $13.50
Where Viewed: AMC Theatres Pacific Place 11, Seattle, WA
When 1st Seen: 28 April 2006
Time: 8:00 p.m.
Review Dedicated to: John S., my uncle, of Staten Island, NY and Two-Time WTC Survivor
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DVD | soundtrack |
I had to let a little time pass in my mind after seeing United 93 before sitting down to the word processor and putting my thoughts and feelings about this film to electronic paper. For me, in a lot of ways for very personal reasons, it is still too soon to see a movie about the events of 9/11. A poll conducted on this site this spring revealed that 100% of the voters felt it was still too soon. As a point of fact, when I first heard this film was in the works and then being released in April, I was shocked and horrified. Some of my worries dissipated when I learned that the British writer / director Paul (The Bourne Supremacy) Greengrass had met with the families of the passengers on United flight 93, and they wanted this film to be made. I figure if any one of them objected, he would not have made the film, not yet anyway. Moreover, it is hard to believe given how much of our lives in the USA, and the rest of the world for that matter, have been upended and impacted by the events of 9/11, four and a half long years actually have passed. There comes a point when, somehow, you have to begin healing and part of healing is dealing with the events in your mind—something I have been quite unable to do until now.
So, I entered the theatre with caution on a decently full stomach forecasting that I would be unable to eat during the film but careful to ensure that I would in no way need to leave the theatre for any reason. I selected a seat without my usual temerity that has developed upon going to the movies for some 108 straight days. Purposefully, I sat near people when there were plenty of regions more sparsely populated. The theatre was not crowded. I would describe the attendance as healthy but not robust. And, I blocked out the previews and sort of thought maybe there shouldn’t have been any previews in the first place. And, then the film began. It starts, in a surreal fashion, with a series of prayers--prayers, in Arabic, being spoken by the young men who, in a few short hours, would be martyrs for their cause. And, in hearing those prayers, and in seeing the men pray, something struck me. I didn’t really grasp it until later in the film why it struck me.
After that, the film turns to people loading on planes and the men presumed to be the hijackers passing through security and themselves getting on the planes. Basically, everything is just going according to plan. Then, we are led to believe that the film takes the rest of the story, until United 93 is deemed off course, from actual historical record. In fact, if you stay and watch the credits, you will note that a lot of key grounds people (air traffic controllers, etc.) played themselves in the film. Most impressive, I thought, was the real Ben Sliney. As the worst of historical ironies would have it, 11 September 2001 was his first day as the National Operations Manager—the civilian head of all air traffic controllers in the USA. In some ways, Mr. Sliney might well be the greatest unsung hero of the entire day—as many headaches as his decision to stop all commercial air traffic within, into, and out of the USA on that day caused and as much money as it cost the airlines, that gutsy call may have been the single most important one made that day. There is no way to know how many lives were saved, how many other plots were in place that were suddenly stopped. For one man to put his entire reputation (and when you see him for real in the film you can see that he is this kind of guy) on the line because he really believed it was the only way to protect the over 5000 planes of people that were in the air at the time and the 1000s and 1000s of others that would have flown throughout the rest of the day was simply magnificent. Unfortunately, the events of the day also revealed many flaws and lack of planning and preparation on the part of the government and civilian air authorities especially in the area of sharing information, and this made for one hell of a first day for Mr. Sliney.
As the morning unfolds, Mr. Greengrass takes the audience back to the World Trade Center-NY to relive the two jet crashes into the Twin Towers. I probably would not have wanted to ever see these crashes again having watched them over and over and over again at the time, were it not for the fact that this film puts a few things about the crashes into historical perspective that I either had forgotten or maybe never paid attention to before. First, there was a fair amount of time just after the first crash that it was being reported that the crash was a light civilian aircraft which certainly would not evoke a massive and speedy response on the part of the rescue workers as might have been were it reported that a huge, fully-fueled jetliner bound for the west coast might have. Second, the first crash happens quite a bit before the second tower is hit. This, for me, represents an important detail given that a very close relative of mine was working around floor 50 of the second tower, and I have never been quite sure how he and so many others in that tower had time to escape. I never questioned him, because I was just too relieved to eventually find he was alive after spending most of the morning in tears certain that he had not made it out and being unable to contact any of my relatives in NYC at the time due to jammed phone lines. It is also clear from the film that the FAA had information indicating a strong possibility that there were multiple planes in play, but that information does not really serve them well in attempting to do anything about it because they just don’t know how many or which ones until it is too late. And that is a concept of the film that really makes it work. It is a telling of the story as close to accurately as possible. I think the intention is for the film to look as much like it was made at the time of the actual events occurring as possible, and that part really works—though I am sure some chat boards will recall the technique and visually disturbing camera work of Mr. Greengrass’s earlier film and wonder.
After much on-the-ground scrambling and volleys of information and ideas back and forth at both the government and civilian air commands and air traffic control centers, we finally get to the people on Flight 93. The Newark, New Jersey to LAX flight was sparsely populated. Most of the passengers were older people who seemed like seasoned air travelers. We don’t know anything about any of them. Also on their flight were four apparent hijackers all of apparent Middle Eastern heritage and Arabic-speaking. Most of the story of what happens on the plane actually had to be hypothesized from the evidence of what happened to the plane, where it went down, and the information the passengers were able to get to their family members using phones on the plane. Of course, the actual events and their sequence will never be truly known. All that is known for certain is that the plane was taken over by the highjackers, and that when the passengers learned that three other hijacked flights were not actually highjacked; but, instead, were used to hit targets including the WTC and the Pentagon, they decided to try to prevent their flight from becoming the fourth. In this sense, the film then works to focus on the heroic tension that wells up in their hearts and minds as the passengers and flight crew decide to try to over power the highjackers, disable their bomb, reclaim the cockpit, and safely land the plane. Sure, there is an element of self-preservation that some people will suggest isn’t really heroism, but from a grander scheme, it is. We see them plan and organize and get everyone working together. How ever successful they may have been in their ultimate plan, unfortunately, as we know only too well, their plane crashed quite tragically in Pennsylvania taking all of their lives with it. Some of the passengers, I noted were deeply into prayer (even reciting the Lord’s Prayer together as a group) just before the crash. And that was when it really struck me--this thing about prayer. The hijackers were praying in the morning, and the passengers were praying on the plane, as were the hijackers praying on the plane again when it was clear their mission was going to fail. Assuming there is a God, and assuming that this entity is the creator, and knowing that both sets of people, the passengers and the hijackers, believe in the same, one true and powerful creator of heaven, earth, and all humankind, it struck me as being very highly unlikely that God would justify any of this. I wondered how truly blasphemous it must be to use God to justify all this conflict, and I was reminded of the dangers of any sorts of religious fanaticism that leads people to believe they are justified by God to kill, harm, or hate others. It simply doesn’t make any sense.
In the end, for me, the film ultimately is really about the fortitude and resolve of the human spirit. The passengers of United Flight 93 had to reach deeply within themselves to be willing to risk their own lives for those of many others that would be saved by averting the highjacking. In so doing, each one is a hero. We can only hope that their lives were not lost in vain, but rather that their story stands as a beacon of hope to guide us all into being better people, for working hard to understand the plight of others around the world, striving to have our voices of reason and universal love and peace flood the hearts and minds of those that feel disenfranchised, downtrodden, or neglected by the rest of the world. Once again, this film reminded me that when ever one is faced with aggression, there are always two possible responses: more aggression that usually inspires even more aggression with each successive aggressor feeling more and more justified for his aggression OR stopping, taking a step or two back and seeking to understand the aggression and thus to respond in such a way that prevents further aggression rather than inspiring it. Blind retaliation, sometimes dangerously confused for swift justice, can quickly lead us nowhere but to emptiness and regret.
I applaud the families of the passengers of United Flight 93 for allowing the story of their brave loved ones of that flight--the people who intervened and gave their lives trying to stop the aircraft from being used as a weapon and trying to save themselves. I applaud the passengers for their unusual bravery. More, I applaud them for putting the lives of others ahead of their own. In a nation where people will cut each other off on a highway entrance ramp to get home 10 seconds faster, we need to know there are others capable of the greatest sacrifice of all as well. And with the memory of their actions, maybe each one of us can stick each day to the promise of committing at least one, random act of kindness and to reading one international newspaper article so that we might all better understand the world in which we live and the people who are all our brothers and sisters in humankind. I know this sounds all very utopian and unattainable. There are many doubters. And, yet, really, what is preventing us all from coming together and creating world peace and harmony? Fear and mistrust that we develop either out of ignorance or from stories we are told and believe by people who stand to gain only as long as there is perpetual fear and mistrust. Let’s be honest, we all, every single one of us, wants to live, and we want our children to live happy and safe. That is only going to happen if we all work together. We actually are not in competition with each other for survival—that was one little bit of Darwin’s theory of evolution that wasn’t quite right. He over-valued both the effect and the importance of competition. It’s not hard to see, given his time, and what we know now instead, why he made this error and why we shouldn’t perpetuate it. The fact of the matter is that if we all work together like parts of the same organism, we will all live in harmony—period. It really is that simple. The battle for survival isn’t some people vs. others, it’s all of us together or none of us. The little kid who dies of malnutrition somewhere could be the kid who would have grown up to find a permanent and lasting cure for the next super virus that could wipe us all out or develop a new dirt-cheap ceramic crystal that converts electromagnetic radiation to electricity with nearly 100% efficiency making electricity as free as sunlight. Now is the time to galvanize citizens of the world on a common path of human understanding and enlightenment not to regress. I do apologize for so much philosophy here. This is/was supposed to be a review of the film United 93. But, the impact of the film really, in my mind, was a reminder of why we are all here, and what we must to ensure our very survival. We must remain united in our resolve to work as global citizens and put the life of our planet ahead of the lives of ourselves as individuals.
So, I entered the theatre with caution on a decently full stomach forecasting that I would be unable to eat during the film but careful to ensure that I would in no way need to leave the theatre for any reason. I selected a seat without my usual temerity that has developed upon going to the movies for some 108 straight days. Purposefully, I sat near people when there were plenty of regions more sparsely populated. The theatre was not crowded. I would describe the attendance as healthy but not robust. And, I blocked out the previews and sort of thought maybe there shouldn’t have been any previews in the first place. And, then the film began. It starts, in a surreal fashion, with a series of prayers--prayers, in Arabic, being spoken by the young men who, in a few short hours, would be martyrs for their cause. And, in hearing those prayers, and in seeing the men pray, something struck me. I didn’t really grasp it until later in the film why it struck me.
After that, the film turns to people loading on planes and the men presumed to be the hijackers passing through security and themselves getting on the planes. Basically, everything is just going according to plan. Then, we are led to believe that the film takes the rest of the story, until United 93 is deemed off course, from actual historical record. In fact, if you stay and watch the credits, you will note that a lot of key grounds people (air traffic controllers, etc.) played themselves in the film. Most impressive, I thought, was the real Ben Sliney. As the worst of historical ironies would have it, 11 September 2001 was his first day as the National Operations Manager—the civilian head of all air traffic controllers in the USA. In some ways, Mr. Sliney might well be the greatest unsung hero of the entire day—as many headaches as his decision to stop all commercial air traffic within, into, and out of the USA on that day caused and as much money as it cost the airlines, that gutsy call may have been the single most important one made that day. There is no way to know how many lives were saved, how many other plots were in place that were suddenly stopped. For one man to put his entire reputation (and when you see him for real in the film you can see that he is this kind of guy) on the line because he really believed it was the only way to protect the over 5000 planes of people that were in the air at the time and the 1000s and 1000s of others that would have flown throughout the rest of the day was simply magnificent. Unfortunately, the events of the day also revealed many flaws and lack of planning and preparation on the part of the government and civilian air authorities especially in the area of sharing information, and this made for one hell of a first day for Mr. Sliney.
As the morning unfolds, Mr. Greengrass takes the audience back to the World Trade Center-NY to relive the two jet crashes into the Twin Towers. I probably would not have wanted to ever see these crashes again having watched them over and over and over again at the time, were it not for the fact that this film puts a few things about the crashes into historical perspective that I either had forgotten or maybe never paid attention to before. First, there was a fair amount of time just after the first crash that it was being reported that the crash was a light civilian aircraft which certainly would not evoke a massive and speedy response on the part of the rescue workers as might have been were it reported that a huge, fully-fueled jetliner bound for the west coast might have. Second, the first crash happens quite a bit before the second tower is hit. This, for me, represents an important detail given that a very close relative of mine was working around floor 50 of the second tower, and I have never been quite sure how he and so many others in that tower had time to escape. I never questioned him, because I was just too relieved to eventually find he was alive after spending most of the morning in tears certain that he had not made it out and being unable to contact any of my relatives in NYC at the time due to jammed phone lines. It is also clear from the film that the FAA had information indicating a strong possibility that there were multiple planes in play, but that information does not really serve them well in attempting to do anything about it because they just don’t know how many or which ones until it is too late. And that is a concept of the film that really makes it work. It is a telling of the story as close to accurately as possible. I think the intention is for the film to look as much like it was made at the time of the actual events occurring as possible, and that part really works—though I am sure some chat boards will recall the technique and visually disturbing camera work of Mr. Greengrass’s earlier film and wonder.
After much on-the-ground scrambling and volleys of information and ideas back and forth at both the government and civilian air commands and air traffic control centers, we finally get to the people on Flight 93. The Newark, New Jersey to LAX flight was sparsely populated. Most of the passengers were older people who seemed like seasoned air travelers. We don’t know anything about any of them. Also on their flight were four apparent hijackers all of apparent Middle Eastern heritage and Arabic-speaking. Most of the story of what happens on the plane actually had to be hypothesized from the evidence of what happened to the plane, where it went down, and the information the passengers were able to get to their family members using phones on the plane. Of course, the actual events and their sequence will never be truly known. All that is known for certain is that the plane was taken over by the highjackers, and that when the passengers learned that three other hijacked flights were not actually highjacked; but, instead, were used to hit targets including the WTC and the Pentagon, they decided to try to prevent their flight from becoming the fourth. In this sense, the film then works to focus on the heroic tension that wells up in their hearts and minds as the passengers and flight crew decide to try to over power the highjackers, disable their bomb, reclaim the cockpit, and safely land the plane. Sure, there is an element of self-preservation that some people will suggest isn’t really heroism, but from a grander scheme, it is. We see them plan and organize and get everyone working together. How ever successful they may have been in their ultimate plan, unfortunately, as we know only too well, their plane crashed quite tragically in Pennsylvania taking all of their lives with it. Some of the passengers, I noted were deeply into prayer (even reciting the Lord’s Prayer together as a group) just before the crash. And that was when it really struck me--this thing about prayer. The hijackers were praying in the morning, and the passengers were praying on the plane, as were the hijackers praying on the plane again when it was clear their mission was going to fail. Assuming there is a God, and assuming that this entity is the creator, and knowing that both sets of people, the passengers and the hijackers, believe in the same, one true and powerful creator of heaven, earth, and all humankind, it struck me as being very highly unlikely that God would justify any of this. I wondered how truly blasphemous it must be to use God to justify all this conflict, and I was reminded of the dangers of any sorts of religious fanaticism that leads people to believe they are justified by God to kill, harm, or hate others. It simply doesn’t make any sense.
In the end, for me, the film ultimately is really about the fortitude and resolve of the human spirit. The passengers of United Flight 93 had to reach deeply within themselves to be willing to risk their own lives for those of many others that would be saved by averting the highjacking. In so doing, each one is a hero. We can only hope that their lives were not lost in vain, but rather that their story stands as a beacon of hope to guide us all into being better people, for working hard to understand the plight of others around the world, striving to have our voices of reason and universal love and peace flood the hearts and minds of those that feel disenfranchised, downtrodden, or neglected by the rest of the world. Once again, this film reminded me that when ever one is faced with aggression, there are always two possible responses: more aggression that usually inspires even more aggression with each successive aggressor feeling more and more justified for his aggression OR stopping, taking a step or two back and seeking to understand the aggression and thus to respond in such a way that prevents further aggression rather than inspiring it. Blind retaliation, sometimes dangerously confused for swift justice, can quickly lead us nowhere but to emptiness and regret.
I applaud the families of the passengers of United Flight 93 for allowing the story of their brave loved ones of that flight--the people who intervened and gave their lives trying to stop the aircraft from being used as a weapon and trying to save themselves. I applaud the passengers for their unusual bravery. More, I applaud them for putting the lives of others ahead of their own. In a nation where people will cut each other off on a highway entrance ramp to get home 10 seconds faster, we need to know there are others capable of the greatest sacrifice of all as well. And with the memory of their actions, maybe each one of us can stick each day to the promise of committing at least one, random act of kindness and to reading one international newspaper article so that we might all better understand the world in which we live and the people who are all our brothers and sisters in humankind. I know this sounds all very utopian and unattainable. There are many doubters. And, yet, really, what is preventing us all from coming together and creating world peace and harmony? Fear and mistrust that we develop either out of ignorance or from stories we are told and believe by people who stand to gain only as long as there is perpetual fear and mistrust. Let’s be honest, we all, every single one of us, wants to live, and we want our children to live happy and safe. That is only going to happen if we all work together. We actually are not in competition with each other for survival—that was one little bit of Darwin’s theory of evolution that wasn’t quite right. He over-valued both the effect and the importance of competition. It’s not hard to see, given his time, and what we know now instead, why he made this error and why we shouldn’t perpetuate it. The fact of the matter is that if we all work together like parts of the same organism, we will all live in harmony—period. It really is that simple. The battle for survival isn’t some people vs. others, it’s all of us together or none of us. The little kid who dies of malnutrition somewhere could be the kid who would have grown up to find a permanent and lasting cure for the next super virus that could wipe us all out or develop a new dirt-cheap ceramic crystal that converts electromagnetic radiation to electricity with nearly 100% efficiency making electricity as free as sunlight. Now is the time to galvanize citizens of the world on a common path of human understanding and enlightenment not to regress. I do apologize for so much philosophy here. This is/was supposed to be a review of the film United 93. But, the impact of the film really, in my mind, was a reminder of why we are all here, and what we must to ensure our very survival. We must remain united in our resolve to work as global citizens and put the life of our planet ahead of the lives of ourselves as individuals.
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