"We Have To Do Something. They Are Not Going To Land This Plane." --- Thomas E. Burnett, Jr. (Christian Clemenson)

Rating: 10/10 (29 October 2006)

"United 93" (2006)
Directed By: Paul Greengrass
Starring: Christian Clemenson, Trish Gates, David Alan Basche, Cheyenne Jackson, & Peter Hermann
MPAA Rating: "R" (for language, and some intense sequences of terror and violence)
On September 11, 2001, four planes were hijacked by terrorists. Two crashed into the North and South Towers of the World Trade Center. One crashed into the Pentagon. The other did not reach its target. The courageous people onboard fought back, overthrowing the terrorists and, unfortunately, crashing the plane in the process. No one survived the impact. "United 93" tells the story of this plane and the struggle endured by those people onboard--those people who sacrificed everything so that the terrorists would not fulfill their mission. And it tells their story with such a profound elegance and with such masterful storytelling. With almost completely unknown actors and actresses and shot with basic cameras (rather than the high-tech, digital ones usually used for such films), it tells its story with such utter realism and simplicity. This is not a film that delves into conspiracies, hidden meanings, and other such things. We know exactly what our characters know--very little else. The only difference is that we know how their day will end. This makes the movie all the more emotional and heart-wrenching to watch. From the very first scene and from the introduction of our characters, we know that the flight will not end well for them. It is a bleak, cheerless moviea movie that left me drained and very sad, but proud. I was proud of the heroes portrayed in the movie and I was proud of how this movie portrayed them. This is cinema at its best.
Many people may argue that it is too soon for this movie to be made. I do not feel as though this is true. In fact, I think that this is a movie that should have been made. The story of what the people onboard Flight 93 endured is an important story--one that people should know about. How close to or how far from the truth this movie actually is, I cannot say, but it seems like a valid story. It does not appear fictionalized or glorified in any way. Unlike most movies that portray tragedies, we are not given one or two characters to follow and then the rest are simply placed there for fodder to various explosions, stabbings, beating, and other miserable deaths. Every character portrays a real person and we do not follow any one in particular. All are shown as part of a whole. It is as though we are merely onlookers, watching the people as they arrive, learning only what we can as they befriend each other or talk to loved ones on cellular telephones. Our story begins at the airport when they arrive and it ends just moments before they die. All exterior events shown are done so to enhance the events taking place onboard the plane. We are not shown any family members of the passengers and, even when they speak to their loved ones via the plane's phones (or their own personal cell phones), we do not hear their voices. This is done because it was not the loved ones' stories the movie was telling. We know the heartbreaking tragedy they will endure and we do not need to see it on screen. Through the tears of the passengers as they speak to their family members and friends, we are, in a way, seeing the story through everyone's eyes. We are hearing what the families heard and we know exactly what they know (as all events outside of those on Flight 93 are shown through CNN segments).
This is an almost completely flawless film and any gripe I had with it are more like nitpicks on my behalf, rather than actual problems with the film. I did not understand much of the airline lingo used in the ground control centers, making many of the scenes set in these areas useless to me. Is this a complaint? Yes, a complaint against me for not understanding what I was seeing. The dialog in these scenes was not watered down for the sake of more uninformed audiences (like me). Much like if we stepped into one of these areas in real life, we would either understand what we were seeing or we would not. The employees would not use simpler terminology for us. This was bittersweet for me. On one hand, I was happy to see that the movie did not sacrifice any of its intelligence, but, on the other hand, the movie lost me in a few parts and I felt as though I was merely watching chaos. But, then again, maybe chaos was what I was supposed to be seeing. Maybe, these scenes were done this way so that we, like many people watching the news that day, could not truly comprehend what was happening around us. Or maybe it was merely done so to symbolize the confusion and the lack of planning and understanding that the people in these control centers were enduring at that very moment--when the world was going crazy and it seemed as though the tragedy would never end.
Final Thought: "United 93" is one of the year's best filmshaunting, realistic, and deeply heartbreaking.
Overall Rating: 10/10 (A+)