Powerful

Rating: 9/10 (2 May 2006)

Just about everyone on earth knows of the events of September 11, 2001.
Flight 93 - Powerful? Yes Topical? Yes Emotional? Very Controvesial? Definitely! As I sat in the theater waiting for the movie to start, I was wondering if I was going to be able to sit through this. The events depicted are still relatively fresh in my memory and the collective memory of the world. I was wondering if the American public, and the world was ready to see such an event unfold. Remember that it was 20 to 30 years after the end of World War II that the first batch of "graphic" movies about it (The Longest Day, Battle of the Bulge, Patton, Midway) started appearing on the screen. And it was much longer before the likes of Saving Private Ryan, Schindler's List, and Band of Brothers really hit home. While the Vietnam War films (Appocalype Now, Platoon, Full Metal Jacket etc) took less time from the end of the war to hit the screen, the impact of those events for the people who were there was no less powerful.
The film makers have taken very few known facts (no one will ever be 100% certain of what happened on the plane before the crash), aided by real people who were in the Air Traffic Control Centers, the family members of the crash victims and various news reports to make a very powerful, very real version of what MIGHT HAVE HAPPENED. Since, as I stated that no one will ever be 100% certain of what EXACTLY happened, this is probably the closest thing that we will ever get to witness.
The screenwriters and director have taken real people, with real emotions and feelings and turned them into real people. The fear and horror on the plane is real and raw, yet not overdone in any manner.
You see that some people in shock, some in anger and some in fear as they do not know exactly what is going on.
They hear (through the use of air to ground telephones) of the other planes hitting the towers.
On ground, you see the disbelief, confusion and shock by the air traffic controllers, the head of the Federal Aviation Administration, and the military liaison officers.
By attempting to overpower the hijackers and land the plane, the passengers of Flight 93 are not trying to be heroes, but are trying to save their own lives.
The questions remains - can a hero someone who tries something and fails? Is trying to save yourself and others heroic or simple human nature? Those are questions that I do not have the answer for. Maybe none of us do...............