heart break

Rating: 10/10 (6 September 2006)

Everything about United 93 is heart breaking to watch. From the Arabs praying with their Koran, to the smiling faces of the personnel facing what must have seemed like just another day; the person who boarded at the last minute. Paul Greengrass's docudrama is a superb piece of film making. We have the benefit of hind sight and fore knowledge, and yet, as information filtered to the people involved, it seemed surreal, unbelievable, tragic, and baffling. If this film is viewed by film goers who have also watched WHY WE FIGHT, the astonishing, brilliant documentary by Eugene Jarecki, it adds profoundly to our understanding of the human condition. And then there is everybody's favorite whipping boy, Michael Moore, who always tells the truth in his own, sardonic, passionate way. Regardless of how you may feel about him, his perspective is helpful and he doesn't lie. It's difficult for me to comment much further, since United 93 is a film wrought with emotion. Regardless of our personal beliefs, our own convictions, our own sense of the world, people died that day. It show cased the best and the worst in us. Many people die every day all over this complex world and for many of the same reasons. It was hard to speak during, and after viewing this film..... We will never know exactly what happened that day, and Greengrass's meticulous research is a testament to him. It is a film about human beings facing an extraordinary day and how they responded to it, and yes, in an extraordinary way. There was no finger pointing, no demonetization, no focus on the body politic, no jingoistic call for war nor anger. But the themes of love, love for family, love for friends, courage, desperation, cooperation, fear, acceptance. rebellion... I watched his other docudrama, BLOODY Sunday, and this film has the same type of style. But this film flew by, and it felt like it was only a few minutes in length. It left me breathless by the end, and i wouldn't hesitate to recommend it for most people. A remarkable film about an infamous day. It is a great monument to the people who died that day. A portion of the monies generated from United 93 went to their monument. In RAN, Kurosawa reminds us that when we forget history, we are doomed to repeat it, to walk the same path over and over. My hope is that we move forward as a species....United 93 is a painful yet important film. many people were praying in this film, from beginning to end. i wonder; were they all praying to the same God? screenplay A direction A editing A+