Exceptional film-making

Rating: 8/10 (11 May 2006)

One of the few films where knowing what is going to happen beforehand gives every scene a tragic resonance. "United 93" is a powerful and exceptional documentary-style recreation of the September 11, 2001, tragedy in which brave passengers forced a hijacked airliner to crash into a field before it could strike its intended target. Director Paul Greengrass fills his cast with both no-name actors and some real people (air traffic controllers, for example) who worked on the periphery of the drama. His strategy pays off because it stops us from focusing on any one character. The film has a real time feel and smartly layers in other aspects of the September 11 attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon. The film's final fifteen minutes are extremely harrowing and ultra-realistic. A very worthwhile, unsentimental achievement.