United 93 contains many haunting moments, but one comes of great surprise. At an air traffic command center, the staff stands about, confused over reports of a hijacking. A plane has disappeared from the grid, and they don’t know what to make of it. Someone brings CNN up on the large viewing screen, they stand, baffled, at the image of a smoking hole in the north tower of the World Trade Center. Reliving the beginning of the attack, only armed with the knowledge we have now, is shattering in a very unexpected way.
British director Paul Greengrass has put together a look at 9/11 with a narrow focus, but with searing strength and focus that puts the viewer in the center of the action in a way not seen since Saving Private Ryan’s D-Day assault sequence. We already know the terrible outcome, but watch with curiosity and suspense, secretly hoping that perhaps history can change, if just for this one movie. Just because we know it won’t doesn’t make the final passenger assault any less gripping or heartbreaking.
Shot in the British docu-drama style that severed the Greengrass-directed The Bourne Supremacy so well, the film never once feels like fiction, but an omnipresent insider’s view of the action. The plot moves quickly but with great dread, scenes inside air command inter-cut with the doomed flight, where the four hijackers anxiously await their time to strike. On the ground, chaos runs rampant, with hundreds of people frantically trying to coordinate a response, ounces of clarity coming bundled with pounds of confusion.
Many of the air control and military personnel are played not by actors, but by the real people, which some have said augments the authenticity. I instead offer the argument that the plane sequences seem so realistic, that Greengrass could have effortlessly pulled off the same effect using a cast entirely composed of actors. The film’s accuracy stems from its incredible power, not the other way around.
Much has been made about the film’s lack of a political stance, but all films are political, whether or not they know it. The hijackers are shown as real people, true, but it seems childish to imagine that evil men don’t form relationships, shave, or get nervous. The sympathy rests exclusively with the victims, who each receive as much screen time as they require, and no more. I struggled to hear names and hints of who each passenger was, but the only one I recognized for sure was Jeremy Glick, a judo expert who the film theorizes lead the charge. Most of the passenger dialogue involves planning the attack, or very painfully, final phone calls home.
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Article comments
1 - Phillip Winn
I've been skeptical that any movie about 9/11 could do anything but suck, but the buzz I'm hearing says that this movie manages to deliver, primarily because of that tight focus you mention.
I think I'm going to need to revise my opinion. Oliver Stone's film will almost certainly deserve my scorn, but this one might just work well.
2 - Casey Lunkley
Hehe. I think this review may be just a bit biased. Especially coming from someone who proclaims he could be the "most obsessed '24' fan in the Midwest". Have a thing for exciting plots of terror, do we?
"United 93" is MUCH too soon. You can refer to my recent blog on the subject here for my reasons behind my opinion.
Nicely written, though.
3 - Keith Demko
Great review ... going to see this one later today, and I agree that it is already political in nature .. it doesn't need to shout out a stance when depicting such a grim event
4 - James Frazier
Thanks for the comments! I'd really wanted to deliver a nicely written review on this film, as I'm one of those people who really took 9/11 to heart.
Phillip, I'm with you on scorning the Oliver Stone film. He's an amazingly skilled director, IMO, but I have little confidence in his ability to treat the 9/11 subject matter respectfully. I will give it a shot, however, when the time comes.
Casey, I'd wondered if anyone would point out my love for '24' when commenting! One of the reasons I am so enamored with that series is that it has no problem treating terrorism as evil. Your post on the film coming too soon was interesting. Were you in NYC when it happened? I was watching at my high school in Cedar Falls, Iowa, and I was really choked up. I can just imagine what it would be like to see it personally.
Keith, you should definitely let me know what you think about the film's politics. I certainly don't think it is right or left wing in the contemporary American way, but I took the scene with the screaming German to really be saying something about their contributions to the terror war.
Thanks again for the comments, guys.
5 - Casey Lunkley
Hey James. Yeah, I was in New York when it happened. I didn't see the towers come down with my own eyes or anything, but it was quite upsetting.
You did a really good review. It looks like a very well made movie...I'm just not comfortable with the profits being made from it.