UNITED 93 - a belated wake-up call?

Rating: Null/10 (27 August 2006)

When is it the 'right' time to make a movie about 9/11? Five years? Ten? Never? If the terrorists had attacked say, an underground mine of 2000 workers and killed them all with an explosion, would there have been all the media hype? Probably not.
Despite what Americans think about terrorists, calling them 'evil' and 'callous', they forget one important fact: terrorists are extremely intelligent and will outwit the best of our best every step of the way. They also have unlimited funds. Add the fact that fanatics have no qualms about dying for their beliefs and you have an undefeatable power. They don't care what we think of them.
The Twin Towers were attacked for one reason only; visual impact.
The WTC was a famous US landmark and targeting it drew the necessary news coverage. Add the attempts on the White House and Pentagon, both also US icons, and you have a nation terrified out of its wits. This basis of terrorism is of course, terror. Considering how the US treats Arab countries, expecting non-retaliation is sheer arrogance.
The unexpected downing of the Twin Towers was an added bonus for the terrorists. They must have squealed with glee as they watched their targets collapsing. It is extremely difficult to 'aim' a large airliner at such small targets (relatively speaking) and the pilots had considerable skills to do so (pilots trained in the US). No doubt the Towers falling spoiled the terrorists' 'fun'. Once the towers were gone, so was the visual impact. All that remained was smoke. The light show was over.
We cannot imagine the insufferable losses of 9/11, but police officers and fireman will tell the same story; they were merely doing their jobs. They did not know that the Towers would fall, but the shortsightedness of this is remarkable. Consider two, 300+ tonne commercial airliners, laden with highly flammable jet fuel slamming into buildings at over 400 miles per hour. Is it not feasible that the building's superstructures would become compromised? Even so, what were we to do? Leave the buildings' occupants to fend for themselves? It was a lose-lose situation.
Many emergency personnel knew that once they entered those buildings there was a chance they would not return. This is true of any emergency rescue. These folks are not heroes in the way we have glorified them. They are simply brave souls willingly to face extreme adversity in the execution of their duties. Many of the souls lost on that day would baulk at the idea of being 'heroes'. They would claim they were simply doing their jobs.
Whatever your beliefs, we cannot deny the incomparable bravery and spirit of those personnel. We do not know the facts of UNITED 93 other than vague radio messages and telephone calls made by passengers. Dialogue had to be created. The situation was well-handled and the dialogue believable, however much artistic license was used. UNITED 93 attempts to show an objective view of what may have happened aboard the stricken aircraft. It makes no claim to accuracy.
Even though we knew the inevitable outcome, I still found myself rooting for the passengers. Yes, the jerky hand-held camera action is annoying and there was too much time given to the hijackers praying and not enough character building of the passengers. But it did show terrorist fanaticism. I doubt there was the hesitation shown by the hijackers in the movie. Fanatics do not falter. Their minds work on 'autopilot', believing firmly that what they are doing is required by them of their Gods. Who are we to argue?
Whatever your thoughts, UNITED 93 is an acceptable and believable account of events, however inaccurate. It does a very good job of portraying the confusion by both NORAD and the FAA. Scenes aboard the aircraft will keep you glued to your seat. Anyone who has ever been in a crisis situation will know that there is first disbelief, then chaos, followed by arguing as it then all goes to pieces and those involved realize that they are ill-prepared to cope with the situation. Communication always breaks down. Incredibly, it is only since 9/11 that the US' security services have begun exchanging information.
The 9/11 attack was just the tip of the terrorist iceberg. As long as the US continues to invade other lands and insult their leaders, they will be under threat from organizations far more powerful that they can ever hope to defeat. Praying just will not do.
Terrorists have infinite patience and funding and I they want to bring us to our knees, they can and will do so with ease. Inevitable future attacks will be better organized and funded and will result in the loss of tens of thousands, possibly millions of Americans. Targets are shopping malls, cinemas and any critical US installation. Imagine 200 planes hijacked at the same time, or the orchestrated blowing up of packed shopping malls at Christmas time.
We need better leaders to help defend our own borders, not interfere in the lives and beliefs of other countries; an act that has gained the US international notoriety. Bush's war mongering adds fuel to the fire and his arrogance at thinking he can defeat these terrorists continues to threaten Americans. He needs to put down his club and listen. Bush's ideas and actions are little different than those he calls the "evil ones". Murder is murder. In any God's name. Iraq is a prime example. Examine life in the US very closely. How much freedom do we really have?
The world's opinion of America and is not very high and that 'superpower' arrogance will one day be removed. Whatever it takes and whatever the human cost. See the movie and form your own opinion. UNITED 93 is not professing to be the whole or any truth. It is well handled and very watchable. Decide for yourself.