United 93 Reviewed

September 11 was a day that will live in infamy. It revealed the tru character of a nation and gave us iconic heros and the wake of crushing defeat. It is a day that we simply must never forget. That Kanye West was declared the winner in the sales competition with Fifty Cent, without even taking into account internet downloads or bootlegs is simply a disgrace, of the utmost proportions. There was a September 11 six years before that that people talk about as well, in fact, they made a movie about it, United 93. Now I know what your thinking, but don’t worry, they did get at least one cast member from the infamously bad mid eighties era Saturday Night Live. Without the participation of Dennie Dillon, and to a lesser extent David “Sledehammer” Rashe, it might seem, I don’t know, inappropriate to document this event on film after less than five years.

United 93 confounded the 2005 Oscars in that it won every critics award fro best picture but did not receive a nomination because folks in Hollywood didn’t bother to see it. So the people that actually watch every single movie deemed it the best, but there vote doesn’t count because they aren’t the ones throwing the annual midwinter circle jerk. To be fair, folks in Hollywood are busy, they cant be expected to see every film. There are important things to be done on their behalf, like ensure that the Bratz movie made it into production. I mean, if that hadn’t worked out we would know the true meaning of tragedy.

All that being said, I cried at United 93. Not a full on sob, but a lone tear did run down my face toward the end of the film. The verite style employed by writer director Paul Greengrass effectively side steps the “too soon?” question. Yes, it would be too soon to lionize the passengers who (probably) overthrew their hijackers and prevented the flight from crashing in any populated area. This film is light on the characterizations, The most we get for backstories is in snippets of overheard conversations that really do sound as mundane as real life, even if we do know early on that the guy who is talking about rugby might be tackling some terrorists by the third act.

What the film gets so very right is the confusion of the situation and how humbling it was to all parties. A few hours after this film takes place the country would be in the full grips of the rall round the flag syndrome, but in these moments what was happening was simply outside of the collective imagination. Greengrass casts many of the real life airtraffic controllers and military officers to play themselves. No alpha male emerges to lead the pack, no speeches are made to underscore the events, it’s all just a testament to how unsettling it was to encounter a situation that went beyond any protocol.

As the passengers are violently escorted to the back of the plane, they fight through confusion fear to realize that the hostages are the stronger party than their captors, it’s difficult not to feel the frisson of being there. Paul Greengrass was onto something, employing a similar style and structure to Bloody Sunday (2002), but that film had a more traditional first act in which we get a real back story for most of the characters. The people on this flight didn’t know each other, so why should we. This film could be shown alongside The Battle of Algiers in film courses as an example of why verite exists.

Oliver Stone certainly captured the right tone with world Trade Center, but something seemed oddly off in the way he employed special effects to portray the fall of the towers. Was it really appropriate to invest all that money in a tribute to the only two survivors to emerge from the rubble when that could have just been given directly to the widows of the firemen?
United 93, on the other hand is spare and minimal. I have no idea how much money went into making it but it the perfect level of production for the perfect testemant those passed.