United 93: A Review

When Universal Pictures rolled out writer-director Paul Greengrass’ United 93 in 2006, I was not sure if I would ever see it. 

I certainly didn’t see it in theaters that year, and I did not rush to order it from Amazon when it was available on DVD a few months later. 

Like millions of my fellow Americans, I was apprehensive about seeing a recreation of the events of September 11, 2001, and specifically about the efforts of 40 passengers and crewmembers to wrest back control of the hijacked airliner from four Al Qaeda terrorists before it hits its intended target in Washington, DC. 

While I did not – and still do not – think my own reluctance came from the movie being released only five years after the events of 9-11, I didn’t want to have nightmares about United 93 the way I did back in the fall of 2001.  I was watching Good Morning America on that day (having tuned in a few minutes after the first plane hit the Twin Towers) and I still feel a pit in my stomach when I remember seeing the second plane fly, kamikaze-like, into the other building of the World Trade Center. 

What changed my mind about United 93 was the befuddling fact that many public opinion polls now show that more than half of us want to pull our soldiers out of Afghanistan because they believe that the war in that country is no longer worth it. 

To me, that’s as if more than half of the American population had decided, halfway through the year 1943, to propose peace terms to the Japanese, Germans and Italians because World War II was not worth the sacrifices the nation was being asked to make. 

The Movie: 

United 93 begins, as it must, during the early morning hours of September 11, 2001.  The four Al Qaeda terrorists assigned to take over the plane are in their hotel rooms in Newark, New Jersey, and writer-director Greengrass spends some time showing us their quiet but intense preparation for the "jihad" operation.  It's quite frightening to see how quiet and pious the four young men are; they read from the Koran and go through Muslim rituals (bathing, shaving their bodies) that they believe are needed to enter Paradise later that day. 

The movie then intercuts between various locations which range from the busy Newark International Airport terminal, Boston Air Traffic Control, New York ATC, the Federal Air Administration headquarters, and various military bases, showing us what the terrorists, the passengers, flight crew and the various government agencies do once the first signs of trouble appear. 

Even though the viewer knows what's coming, Greengrass - who uses real civilian and military personnel who were on duty on that terrible September morning - nevertheless allows the real-time narrative build up its feeling ofsomething bad is going to happen without making it look overly dramatized.  

Captain Jason Dahl: [looking at message on display screen] Two planes have crashed into the World Trade Center? We just flew out of Newark and the weather was beautiful!
First Officer LeRoy Homer: Must have been student pilots. 

Part of the realism, of course, is due to the refusal of Greengrass to follow Hollywood conventions of focusing on either the hijackers or the obvious "hero" (Todd Beamer) whose last words - "Let's roll!" - were a rallying cry for the nation during the flag-waving days after 9-11.  Greengrass refuses to ID all the passengers who appear on-screen, which gives United 93 the same sense of "these guys are mostly strangers to each other" that one feels when taking a flight or riding a bus. 

Another factor that makes United 93 feel urgently real is the casting. Not only did Greengrass convince such non-actors as FAA Administrator Ben Sliney and 1st Lt. Jeremy Powell (just to name two) to play themselves, but most of the professional actors are unknown "character" performers.  (Additionally, the United 93 crew is portrayed by real pilots and flight attendants.) 

This helps the viewer to immerse him- or herself into the movie and not have the illusion of reality broken by seeing the presence of a big-name star ("Oh, that's Harrison Ford as Ben Sliney!") that pulls audiences into a more relaxed "It's just a movie..." mindset. 

Finally, Greengrass unapologetically refuses to simplify things for the average person who doesn't have any idea what certain air traffic control terms mean and thus would be confused by them. Again, this is to show the viewer how the events unfolded and to evoke just how confusion, communications breakdowns and a sense of This can't be happening affected the government's initial response to the 9-11 hijackings. 

Is United 93 Worth Watching? 

Clearly, United 93 is not a 'let's watch this with the kids" type of movie. It is a fairly accurate depiction of a very tragic incident in which everything went wrong, not just for America but for the hijackers, too.  Not only did the 40 passengers and crew resist to the very end, but other factors derailed Al Qaeda's plans for United 93, which was supposed to hit the White House around the same time the other three planes hit their targets. 

Though the whole movie is spine-chilling and incredibly intense, for me the toughest moment in United 93 comes while the plane is still at the gate in Newark.  The passengers - including the four terrorists - are aboard, the crew is getting things settled, and the access hatch closes.  

It's at this moment, when we see the latch mechanism moving inexorably to the LOCKED position, that I felt the worst anxiety.  It's a small detail, one that everyone of us who has boarded a plane on our way to somewhere else has probably never noticed.  But in this context, it's like a tomb being sealed, and only four of the passengers know it. 

Todd Beamer: Are you guys ready? Let's roll! Come on, let's go. 

What I like - if that is a proper term for this movie - is how Greengrass never panders to the audience by making certain scenes more action-movie like.  Even Todd Beamer's famous last words are delivered naturally and without bravado.  The people aboard the plane know what the hijackers' "brothers" did and that they probably won't survive, but even in the more speculative scenes, Greengrass doesn't turn United 93 into a civilian version of Air Force One.

Recommended: Yes

© 2012 Alex Diaz-Granados.  All Rights Reserved