United 93 – is everything you’d expect it to be, but hope it won’t. But it is, and there is no Hollywood happy ending. And this is the point of it, so what is the point? Written and directed by Paul Greengrass, this is the story of the flight bound to destroy the Washington capital, on that fateful 9/11 and the hero’s of the plane, who decided to stop it, as it crashed into a Pennsylvania field instead. We also learn, via the movie that they were (understandably) only fearful of saving their lives. They knew of the twin towers fall, but didn’t know of this planes intentions, nor did they know it was bound for Washington. They crashed before they ever entered the cockpit, according to Paul Greengrass’s version. Is it true? We’ll never know.
Done in real time, with a shaky camera, lots of panning, and actual crew members and air traffic controllers, we bond with these people and realize their fears as though we’re in that plane. We root for their safety, only to find ourselves angry, disappointed and confused in the end. And then the lights go up and the entire house is silent.
(sidenote: What made the Screen Queen’s experience even more horrible was that I attended the world Premiere so graciously hosted by the Tribeca Film Festival, honoring New York and the families, only to have Todd Beamer’s wife and various victim’s family members, in the audience. As the movie rolled and we heard the last fateful phone calls to love ones, I realized I was in the audience with the very REAL people on that receiving end of those calls. That is something nobody else in America will experience when this movie opens this weekend. And the cries and wails of pain of the victim’s families, as their loved ones fell to their deaths, was nothing I would want any of you to experience either. For me, the movie served as a reminder that we must never forget that day that changed America, and hope our children never see a day of terrorism either.) And for me, a reminder that we still have Oliver Stone’s “World Trade Center” coming out in August.