MOVIE REVIEW - United 93 (2006)

This wonderfully compelling, matter-of-fact depiction of the events that took place on 9-11's final doomed flight is an excellent introduction of that day's trauma migrating into our pop culture psyche. I'm sure every movie-goer is nervous about how the treatment will be: Will there be reverence? (Yes) Will there be historical accuracy? (Yes) Will political posturing be absent? (Yes) Will the victims be portrayed as both courageous and human? (Yes)

At least half the movie lives in the world of the air traffic controllers, the FAA, the military, and the terrifying lack of communication, lack of a game plan, lack of a direct chain of command. This does not come across as preachy, just as reality. In fact, many (if not most) of the real-life players in these worlds played themselves in the movie. The rest of the movie takes place on the plane, and those on board (victims and terrorists) did an amazing job of recreating that experience for us. What a shockingly dramatic hour - even when we know the outcome (and I'm sure because we know the outcome), the drama is riveting.

My initial reaction as the credits rolled was of solemn gratitude - to both the passengers of that flight who saved lives in sacrifice of their own, and to the moviemakers who so clearly and painstakingly cared about this film. For the first hour after the film, I was still back in that world, remembering my own events and fears and high-strung emotions of that day; empathizing with those who lost their lives; thinking of specific members of the real-live cast and how those who survived deal with those events on an ongoing basis. Then once I began to reenter my own world again, I think back to the movie and am amazed at how beautifully crafted it is; at the direct and bold storytelling; at how they integrated the broad scope of organizations chaotically trying to stop the malaise; and mostly at the lack of emotional manipulation - that they allowed the events to stand on their own. The producers knew we would bring our own emotion to it, so there was no need for them to overdo the music, no need to create extraneous subplots, no need to build melodrama. We all remember where we were when we first heard of the attacks. But watching those attacks alongside the air traffic controllers who looked out their window and saw the second plane hit the World Trade Center was, well, they were speechless, and I was speechless yet again. And as the plane neared its final resting place in Pennsylvania, well, once again, I am... speechless.