This is no ordinary analysis

Rating: 8/10 (19 April 2009)

This is the true story of the forty passengers and crew and four terrorists aboard Flight 93 on September 11, 2001. Before you dismiss it, this is no ordinary analysis. There are no stars in this film. You'd be hard pressed to remember any of the characters names; they are all ordinary people caught up in the most horrifying of circumstances, young and old, with the most diverse backgrounds as you'd expect from a group of strangers caught up together. The difference between this film and something you may expect from Hollywood is two fold; the families of the victims were in support of this predominantly British project and the reason for their support is due to Director Paul Greengrass, (Bloody Sunday, Bourne Supremacy).
Like those two other films, Greengrass uses a documentary type feel and he uses it brilliantly here. Hand-held cameras are employed almost exclusively, both on the plane and in air traffic control rooms where a lot of the 'story' takes places. It's as though news crews were invited in to observe the chaos. It is as much about the miscommunication between the AFF, the military and the US Administration than it is about a plane hijacking. Certainly this is something which still angers the families. One wonders if any real change has occurred since then.
Greengrass has gathered as much factual info as he could for his screenplay and utilizes actors who closely resemble the real victims. There's also a very emotional documentary on the DVD as actors meet the families for the first time. While is sounds exploitative, it isn't; the families want this documented, the sooner the better.
The film, however, is free from that emotional stamp that filmmakers usually employ to garner reactions, (read unnecessary schmaltz), and yet it is impossible not to be caught up in the tension as time runs out and we hope against reality for a different conclusion. Fortunately there are other good directors like Greengrass now working in Hollywood, (Alfonso Cuarón, Todd Field) and the sooner we can prevent the Michael Bay's from ever working again, the better. One can always dream.
Until then, we have United 93 as a testament that there are still significant films being made on the fringes of the mainstream. It's up to us as audiences to support them when they come along.