'United 93' brings 9/11 memories to life

One might think that Hollywood is trying to capitalize on the worst terrorist attack ever on American soil with "United 93," and while this is true to a point, the film was certainly made with a great deal of dignity and respect to the victims' families. \nIn directing this film, Paul Greengrass (whose previous works include "The Bourne Supremacy" and "Bloody Sunday") makes the audience into a direct observer of the events as they develop. He divides the film's focus between the passengers aboard flight 93 and the air traffic controllers and military personnel monitoring the situation from the ground. When the action is inside flight 93, the viewer becomes a passenger in the plane, and as the action shifts to the air traffic control center, the viewer is right in the middle of all the confusion. As the footage of the other planes crashing into the trade center towers plasters television screens in the air traffic control room, it feels like September 11th all over again. \nGreengrass further intensifies the reality of the film by allowing it to progress slowly, cutting between action in the air and on the ground, resulting in a real-time feel. Also, only unknown actors are used, and we learn almost nothing about any of the characters, just as their real life counterparts knew nothing about each other before boarding that plane. \nAt no point does the film make any judgments about any of the situations or characters. There are no poignant speeches and no behind-the-scenes politics, with the events left to the viewer for interpretation. Even the terrorists are shown in a human light. In one early scene, a soon-to-be hijacker calls a loved one for one last goodbye before he boards the plane. \n"United 93" may never have been the heroic story that is has become if it were not for an hour-long delay that held up the flight's takeoff. That slight twist of fate allowed the passengers time to hear about the other hijackings, and that coupled with a flight attendant seeing the pilots' murdered bodies, gave them the motivation to fight back. The terrified passengers knew that as a group, they could not sit idle and become a weapon of destruction. The last fifteen minutes of the film depicts their retaliation. When those passengers realized no one was going to save them, they accepted their fate and fought back. \n-- Doug Evans