"'United' We Stand"
by Scott Mantz

"United 93"
Directed by Paul Greengrass

"Let's roll!" The passengers of "United 93" get ready to strike back!

If you’re old enough to read this review, then you must be old enough to remember where you were on September 11, 2001.

I sure remember where I was during the worst terrorist attack in U.S. history, and I certainly don’t need a movie to remind me about the horrific events that transpired on that terrible day.  But like it or not, that movie – the first of several 9/11-themed films from the Hollywood studios – is being released in theaters just a few months shy of the 5th anniversary of the attacks.

I am, of course, referring to “United 93,” the dramatic account of the final moments aboard United Airlines Flight 93, the fourth hijacked plane that crashed in a field in rural Pennsylvania.  That quickly became known as “The Flight that Fought Back,” since passengers and flight attendants tried to regain control of their plane before commandeering Al Qaeda terrorists could reach their intended target (presumably the Capitol Building in Washington, DC).

“United 93” is bound to cause even more controversy than both last year’s “Munich” and 2004’s “The Passion of the Christ” combined, and for very good reasons.  For starters, are Americans ready to see a movie about 9/11, especially one as vivid as this?  Are the Hollywood studios exploiting the most devastating event in U.S. history for the sake of entertainment?  Is it simply too soon for a movie like “United 93?”  Or should moviegoers face their fears and pay tribute to America’s first heroes in the War on Terror?

First thing’s first – yes, “United 93” is a very good movie.  In fact, director Paul Greengrass (“Bloody Sunday,” “The Bourne Supremacy”) has made a powerful, terrifying, disturbing, unflinching, heart-pounding and emotionally devastating thriller that will make you bite your nails down to the bone.  By shooting in real time with a cast of unknowns (primarily made up of real civilians, flight personnel and military controllers), Greengrass captures the dreadful realism of the day in a way that’s impossible to watch and just as impossible to ignore.

But it’s also a riveting and fascinating movie, since it looks at the horrors of 9/11 from different points of view.  In fact, once the 44 individuals board the plane, only about half of the film actually takes place on board United 93.  A good portion of the next hour cuts away to key air traffic control centers in Newark, Boston and New York, as well as the FAA command center in Virginia.

And in each case, these highly skilled personnel are caught way off guard and simply cannot believe their eyes as the tragic events begin to unfold.  In fact, it’s all so inconceivable that they initially fail to register that the smoke pouring out of the North Tower of the World Trade Center is actually from the first hijacked plane, American Airlines Flight 11.

As for what actually happened on board United 93, the film speculates based on the frantic, gut-wrenching phone calls made by the passengers to their loved ones (or to anyone else they could get a hold of).  But since the World Trade Center was already on fire by this point, these are also the calls that gave them a clue as to what their captors were up to, which led them to join forces in a brave effort to regain control of the plane.  The ensuing struggle was extremely chaotic – a fact reinforced by the recently released cockpit recordings – which led the terrorists to ditch the plane over Pennsylvania.

Director Paul Greengrass and the film’s distributor, Universal Studios, claim to have gotten the consent of the families of those who perished before moving forward with “United 93,” but judging by the recent outcry after the trailer ran in theaters (especially in New York), the rest of America may not be ready to see it.  Hollywood has turned disaster into entertainment before, so why is this any different?  Perhaps because movies like “A Night to Remember” (1958), “Titanic” (1997), “Tora! Tora! Tora!” (1970) and “Pearl Harbor” (2001) came many years after the fact, when there was enough distance to provide a historical sense of perspective and closure.

But where 9/11 is concerned, there hasn’t been any closure.  In fact, we’re far from it.  I'm conflicted, because while I think that "United 93" is a very well-made movie that Americans should make it their patriotic duty to see, I also think that it's just too soon.  It doesn’t help that we still can't find Bin Laden, there are too many unanswered questions about the War on Terror, and now Zacarias Moussaoui – the only terrorist to be tried for the crimes of 9/11 – warns of even more catastrophic attacks on the U.S. in the near future.

Everyone will have an opinion about the timeliness of “United 93,” and they will all be right.  But for me, watching the film was like pouring salt into a gaping wound.  I didn’t need a movie to do that.  After all, I remember what happened.  Like the rest of my fellow Americans, I was there.

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