Review: United 93

Rated R | 111 mins

IMDB Info

September 11, 2001. Three Arab men awake in their hotel room before sunrise, pray to their God, shave themselves, and get dressed. “It’s time,” one of them proclaims in a weary voice. As the scene progresses, an aura of terror fills the auditorium; United 93 is a haunting motion picture because it is so surreally real. The men board the plane and, after take-off, the focus of the film shifts to Air Traffic Control Headquarters as its employees become clued into the other flight hijackings taking place on the East Coast of the United States. Cut back to the plane. The men begin their hijacking; the passengers are frantic. The innocent civilians’ horrified emotions bleed through the screen and into the auditorium. One of the men takes control of the plane. Those onboard call their families and discover that both buildings of the World Trade Center have already been crashed into, as the audience observed twenty minutes before at Air Traffic Control Headquarters in real-time. A group of passengers makes the decision that they will need to take control of the airplane, no matter what the cost. It is in this decision that the viewer observes perhaps one of the most stunning and heroic events of contemporary history.

Directed by Paul Greengrass (The Bourne Supremacy, Bloody Sunday) without the slightest bit of exploitation, United 93 is a great film. As a result of a combination of superb acting and the employment of the director’s trademark hand-held cinematography, the film allows the viewer to feel as if they are a first-person observer of the events taking place. In several ways, United 93 transcends mere cinema and brings the tragic event to life; when watching, I didn’t sense any of the required manipulation of filmmaking. United 93 exists solely as a memoriam of the events of September 11^th, allowing the viewer to be affected by its contents in the way that they choose. It is just as much about the uplifting hope and courage of the passengers onboard as it is about the evil cause the terrorists were consumed by. It is just as much about the human suffering of the event as it is about the politics surrounding it. Supremely affecting and highly thoughtful, Greengrass’ film is a multi-dimensional masterpiece that is a testament to the fact that it is not “too soon” to make movies about the Darkest Day of American History.