Last night I watched ‘United 93’ which is on Amazon Prime, it’s the story of one of the hijacked flights on 9/11, which crashed before it reached its target. (United 93 was the flight where the passengers overpowered the hijackers, having learned what had happened with the other hijacked planes. Once they realised the hijackers were on a suicide mission, they collectively decided to try and take the plane back.)
Whilst it’s a dramatisation it attempts to be as accurate as possible, drawing on all available records from the time, the families of the passengers assisted with the production, recounting their last conversations with their loved ones, and suchlike. (Indeed, a lot of people on the ground play themselves. The film acknowledges that the final moments of what happened on the plane are a best guess at what transpired.)
This is quite a remarkable film, the first 40 minutes or so are entirely mundane, as we just watch people go about their usual airport routines, the flight being prepared, the pilots chatting as they walk to the plane, the plane’s crew getting things ready and so on. But there’s this horrible knowledge that every single one of them is going to die.
The film regularly cuts away to various air traffic control centres and NORAD, as information and evidence start to come in that suggest a coordinated series of hijackings are underway.
In many regards it’s hard to ‘enjoy’ a film like this, I spent most of its runtime consumed by a sense of mounting dread, hoping that somehow it wouldn’t end the way I knew it would.
Highly recommended - 915/1000
http://www.reelviews.net/reelviews/united-93Quote:
United 93 is a masterful motion picture. Its impact stays with the viewer; its images are hard to shake. In the years since 9/11, much of what happened that day has become ingrained in our culture. We have absorbed it. United 93 picks the scab and brings back the freshness of the wound. But the passage of time allows us to see the events of this film in a larger context. I do not use the phrase "must see" lightly (and there are those for whom this film may be too painful). Seeing United 93 represents a difficult film-going experience, and one that should not be undertaken lightly. It's hard to imagine anyone not being affected on some level by United 93. But the value of what this picture imparts is worth the challenge of sitting through it. When I compile my Top 10 list of films for 2006, United 93 will be on it, and almost certainly close to the top.