So glad I decided to go.

Rating: 10/10 (29 April 2006)

Last night, my husband and I did something i was pretty sure we weren't going to do - we went to see "United 93." I have to admit, I went a little reluctantly - when i first found out that the film was being made I was outraged. Thought it couldn't possibly be anything but exploitative. Thought it would needlessly open emotional floodgates. Thought it would be fraught with propaganda and skewed viewpoints that would only anger me. Thought that after watching the film, I'd be too frightened to ever get on a plane again.
I was wrong on all counts - and I was so stunned by that, I wanted to share my impressions with others who may have the same reservations.
It occurred to me as I left the theater that I had never before been to a movie that hadn't attempted to manipulate me emotionally. And considering the subject matter here, the fact that this one emphatically did not was, I felt, amazing.
This is, simply put, the story of what happened to and on Flight 93 on September 11th. There is not a trace of Hollywood to be found. No dramatic score, no gratuitous violence or emotional tweaking. It's simple, direct, and realistic. And much of what you see in the film is what happened in places other than on that plane - in the air controllers' tower that was tracking the flight, and at Norad... in fact, some of the actual personnel who were there on that day chose to recreate its events for this film themselves. (If you read the credits at the end, you'll see many of the air traffic controllers and military personnel listed as being portrayed "as him/her self." ) This only added to the film's directness.
Having said all this, I'm not going as far as recommending that everyone see it - each of you knows your own sensitivity level, and will have to decide based on that. But if you had some of the same reservations I had, i wanted to assure you that this isn't 9/11 done as an after-school special. It was, I thought, handled and presented masterfully. It's not a redneck call-to-arms, or a sympathy treatise for the terrorists. Neither is it a scathing indictment of our government. The way Paul Greengrass managed to tell this story without a hint of bias or finger-pointing is truly worthy of respect. We plan on buying the movie when it is available on DVD, and asking our children, when it's appropriate for them, to watch it. Because it's a piece of our history that we need never to forget.