United 93 (2006)

4.0

DRAMA
U.S. Release Date: 04/28/06
Running Length: 111 Minutes
MPAA Classification: R (Violence, Profanity)
Theatrical Aspect Ratio: 2.35:1
Cast: Cheyenne Jackson, David Alan Basche, Christian Clemenson, JJ Johnson, Polly Adams, Khalid Abdalla, Lewis Alsamari, Omar Berdouni, Jamie Harding, Ben Sliney
Director: Paul Greengrass
Screenplay: Paul Greengrass
Cinematography: Barry Ackroyd
Music: John Powell
U.S. Distributor: Universal Pictures

Review by: Carter Moulton

04/29/10

I was in middle school, heading toward social studies on September 11th, 2001. I walked passed the green lockers, into the classroom. The news was on. I looked at my teacher. He was standing in the front of the class, his eyes strapped to the screen. He explained the situation, but I didn’t understand. I just knew that school might be cancelled; it wasn’t. I went home after school. My parents were watching CNN. I saw bodies falling. I understood. The horror of that image, for me, was that I didn’t know who those people were, and I would never know. Director Paul Greengrass’ United 93 doesn’t let you know the names or stories of the passengers; we see only agonized faces, vacant bodies, visceral reactions—and that is why it’s so powerful as a film.

It would’ve been painless for Greengrass, who’s directed such films as The Bourne Supremacy, The Bourne Ultimatum, and most recently, Green Zone, either to spotlight certain individuals on the flight or develop fictional stories for them. This would be the conventional way to do it—Pearl Harbor, Titanic, etc., take your pick. Instead, the skillful director looms in the distance with his handheld camera, observing, taking notes.

While United 93 focuses on the hijacked flight of the same name, much of the film takes place inside of air traffic control rooms and military bases. It begins with the hijackers as they enter the airport. We then learn perhaps the most crucial element of that day: Flight 93 was delayed a half-hour because of high air traffic. It is because of this delay that the passengers aboard were able to learn of the crashes at the World Trade Center and the Pentagon.

Photo © Universal Pictures

Greengrass should be applauded for his critique of the communications between the military and air traffic control on that day. The critique isn’t expressed solely by way of dialogue; the individuals are too speechless—although several times a request to engage all enemy aircraft falls on deaf ears. Greengrass uses film pacing and editing to perform this commentary. For instance, air traffic control learns that Delta Flight 1989 is considered to be a potential hijack case. They relay the message to the military. We then see scenes taking place on the airplane. Back to a control room, where it is concluded that Flight 1989 is safe. Then we get a scene at a military base, where it is announced to the staff that Flight 1989 shows the potential for a hijacking. By splicing this information temporally, we can see the gaps in communication between the two parties.

The last fifteen minutes of United 93 are poetic in the most melancholic sense of the word. We know the plane isn’t going to land safely; we know that everyone on board will die. As the passengers storm up the aisle with forks, knives, boiling water, fire extinguishers—anything they can find—we are absolutely helpless as viewers. They storm into the cockpit—we can only speculate as to whether they actually breached the cockpit—and struggle. Black.

I can’t veil the importance of this film, even if it’s not a movie you’ll want to watch twice. So many real life events are dressed up and rewritten by Hollywood into something they’re not. World War II, the Civil War, the love affair between John Smith and Pocahontas, the rise of William Wallace—these histories and more have been given a week’s dose of Proactiv by movie studios. The factual accounts themselves often do make for good entertainment, just not the type of amusement we pay for when we take our seat in the theater. There are victories, yes, but this tale in particular isn’t a story of happy heroism; it’s a depiction of horror, followed by bereavement.