Movie Review: United 93

Seldom does a film that is required to say so little or so much say only exactly what it must.

The subject of this matter of this film was the subject of a previous post where we debated the need of this film, but mostly focused on the artistic merit of such a project.
I was fortunate enough to find myself in a theater that was still showing this film. I imagine the number of screens showing this film has shrunken to almost none by now, since it has been months since its initial release.
This film was written and directed by Englishman Paul Greengrass, and most of the production took place in London. For such a uniquely American story, it is frustrating that the work had to fall into the hands of an ally just to be done with dignity and clarity.
This film was shot using a great deal of hand-held camera shots. Popularized by documentary filmmakers, the practice has been adopted by studio pictures as a way of heightening reality. We are used to seeing grainy, wobbly news footage on CNN, and filmmakers do their best to recreate that sense of uncertainty using a very basic and primitive camera method. Sadly, this technique was really over-used, and I left the theater feeling nauseous just from the jerky camera.

I am pleased to report that this film is everything it should have been. Obviously a hot-button topic for a film, I was pleased to see that the story was the star of the show. All of the actors in the film were unknown, which was an essential choice to make, since any well-known actors would act in counterpoint to the story’s impact. This film’s greatest success is how it allows you to be a fly on the wall in all of the different locations affected that day. Whether it is the air traffic control room, where you hear the confused and chaotic chatter of a dozen controllers shouting commands, or the Air Force’s command center when orders and being hurled right and left, you are left to hear what you choose to hear, to pay attention to what you find intriguing. I think this is a large part of the film’s success, because it simply allows for us to watch the story unfold in as natural a re-creation as I could imagine.
The film wastes no time in throwing you into the middle of the action. The passengers are quickly boarded, and then shortly after that, air traffic controllers begin to lose contact with several airplanes. You watch helpless as the first two planes crash into the World Trade Center, angered and enraged at being unable to help. The pace of the film doesn’t let up until the very end. With mounting confusion we follow the actions taken by hundreds of air traffic controllers and military personnel as they seek to understand what is happening, and then seek to react to it. Numerous members of the cast were actually playing their real-life roles on the screen, which not only demonstrates their character, but also the urgency and importance of their decisions. It also made me feel encouraged to see these men and women so carefully tend to their duties even in the midst of an absolute chaos, they never forgot their jobs, and never abandoned their posts.

The story of the passengers aboard United 93 only emerges later in the film, after three of the planes had already hit their targets and the terrorists aboard United 93 finally made their move. It was inspiring and heart-wrenching to watch a group of men begin to organize and plan their assault on the cockpit, knowing full well that the chances of survival were slim. One by one any able-bodied man collected their minds and finally launched their assault up the narrow aisle, bodies tumbling and churning as the pilot dove and spun in effort to throw them off their feet. Finally though, as we all know, they made it to the cockpit, and the final seconds of the movie are an insane flurry of flesh and cloth as hands struggle for control of the aircraft; all the while, the sunny Pennsylvania landscape rushes towards the audience.

I believe this is a film all American should see. It is constantly chastised for being “too soon” and “insensitive” to those who mourn the loss of loved ones, but at a time when most Americans have seemingly already forgotten why we fight a war, this is an essential tool that we must use to remind those who would dismiss the evil against which we struggle.
I will buy this film on DVD the day it is released, and I will share it with as many as will watch it.
Overall Grade: A+

T.