Powerful - Works like a gripping documentary

Rating: 7/10 (28 April 2006)

If there were no political context to the story, this movie would still be a riveting suspense. From start to finish, it works like a well-made documentary, carefully focused on what happened and when. Throughout, the camera puts the viewer into the scene. The realism is complete.
"United 93" presents in fact two stories, unfolding simultaneously. The first concerns the events aboard the flight itself. The second concerns the reactions of flight controllers and military authorities on the ground. Many of these latter characters were played in the movie by the actual people. In both stories, the film carefully shows how all these people came to the realization of what was happening that morning. This is the film's leitmotif.
I highly recommend this movie to everyone, regardless of political viewpoint. Without editorials, the movie simply tells the story. If it has any angle, it is the confusion and slow reaction of government employees on the ground. I don't think it is "too early" to make such a movie and I didn't find this movie exploitative. ("From Here to Eternity" was made in less time, and no one claimed it was exploitative.) If art has a purpose, it surely is to engage a public conversation of events around us. This movie will certainly inspire discussion. As I walked out of the cinema in Montreal, people were already talking.