United 93 Review

Amidst a ton of controversy concerning the timing of the source material, United 93 makes its way to theatres this weekend as the first of several movies due out in 2006 focusing on the tragedy of September 11, 2001. On the negative side, many opponents of the film have been arguing that the timing is too soon for this movie. They argue that people are still mourning the losses of that day, and now is not the time to remind them of that painful day. A small minority also argues that without any formal release of an investigation into the crash of United 93, how can you make a movie depicting the events?

On the other hand, the proponents of the film argue that this is the right time to remember the heroes of the day. Unlike other great tragedy films, like Titanic or Pearl Harbor, who arrived in theatres many years after the actual events, the idea behind United 93 is to remind the public of the sacrifices made by the victims of the day rather than glorify and dilute what actually happened.

While I am sure the controversy surrounding the film will cause many movie goers to shy away, in my honest opinion, they would be missing one of the most powerful movies to hit cinemas in the last 20 years.

United 93 is the story of the one hijacked plane that did not manage to reach its target on September 11^th. The movie chronicles the entire day, from the passengers heading to the airport all the way to its horrific crash near Shanksville, Pennsylvania. United 93 focuses on the heroes on that flight, who managed to foil the terrorist plot and force the plane into the ground only minutes before it was set to hit the White House. While the official story regarding United 93 is still a mystery, the story depicted in this film is as likely a possibility as any of the other conspiracies.

Director Paul Greengrass has done an absolutely amazing job with the difficult source material of this movie. In fact, he did three things that really make it the emotional powerhouse that it is. First, the movie takes place entirely in real time. While the passengers on United 93 scramble to figure out whatâ??s going on, we see the other events happening in the US at the same time. From the air traffic controllers frantically trying to figure out whatâ??s going on to the military desperately trying to determine how to proceed, you get an amazing sense of just how insane it was dealing with the events of that day.