Directed by: Paul Greengrass
Starring: Gregg Henry, David Alan Basche, Ben Sliney, David Rasche, Christian Clemenson
As one of the first major motion pictures to depict 9/11, United 93 was greeted with critical acclaim, a Best Director Oscar nomination for Paul Greengrass, and questions of whether it was "too soon" to make movie about such an unprecedented day of horror. Movies reflect the times and depict world events in a visual fashion which allows people to understand their impact. People alive on September 11, 2001, and of a reasonable age to understand what was happening, will recall where they were when they heard the news of the first World Trade Center tower being struck by an airplane, and then the second tower, and then the Pentagon, and then the towers collapsing. Flight United 93 crashed into a rural Pennsylvania field and left no survivors. Its destination was said to be the Sears Tower in Chicago, but thanks to the doomed heroism of a group of passengers, the target was never achieved.
What makes United 93 so compelling is how it is told in real time. It lives in the moment. We may know what happens, but the passengers aboard the plane surely do not. Their plane is hijacked in what must have been a surreal moment unlike no other. After allowing the gravity of the situation to be processed, a group of passengers hatch a makeshift plan to storm the cockpit. What else were they going to do? They assessed their options and, figuring correctly the hijackers will not let them go, did what they could to ensure at least a slim chance of survival.
It is chilling to see the morning of September 11, 2001 unfold. Soon-to-be-passengers leave their homes and loved ones, not knowing of course it would be for the last time. The hijackers are seen preparing to board the plane for their suicide mission. We know nothing about any of the people involved, except that they will soon be linked together on a fateful flight. It is natural to assume that, other than testimony by those who the passengers called when the flight was hijacked, most of United 93's dialogue and action was dramatized. The film doesn't take excessive license with this. It maintains the anonymity of the people involved and doesn't turn the situation into an excuse to replicate Die Hard. Their sacrifice was not trivialized. Neither was the day.
As United 93 is hijacked, the Twin Towers are attacked and Newark air traffic controllers fear the worst once it was determined a commercial jet struck the buildings. Were there more? United 93 does not attempt to make sense of this. We see it as the participants did. Other planes do not respond to requests from air traffic control and are feared to be hijacked also. In an unprecedented move, the FAA orders all air traffic throughout the United States to be grounded immediately. It is not a decision which is arrived at confidently, but it turned out to be the correct one.
United 93 isn't about being dramatically powerful or factually correct. It is almost documentary-like in its depiction of the confusion, fear, and uncertainty by all involved, from passengers to air traffic control. One hijacking is enough to contend with. What about several? Such a possibility must have been entertained at some point before 9/11, but likely never planned for because the chances were so remote of it ever happening. But happen it did.
Greengrass fearlessly approaches United 93 while not overdramatizing it. There is enough inherent suspense even though we know the outcome, mostly because the participants don't know the outcome yet. We can only stand by and watch in horror as the story works its way to its inevitable outcome. Greengrass' objective was clear: To observe, to re-enact, and to somehow make sense of the senseless. After sixteen years, we are still trying to do that.
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