2006 Auckland Film Festival :: United 93

United 93 [2006]

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Director: Paul Greengrass
Runing Time: 111 Minutes
Country: USA

Screenplay: Paul Greengrass
Photography: Barry Ackroyd
Editors:
Claire Douglas,
Christopher Rouse,
Richard Pearson
Music: John Powell
CinemaScope
M violence, offensive language

With:
David Alan Basche,
Richard Bekins,
Susan Blommaert,
Ray Charleson,
Christian Clemenson,
Khalid Abdalla,
Lewis Alsamari
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I guess I must have forgotten how I felt when this event occured almost five years ago. I remembered, coincidentally I was watching CNN when the first plane hit the tower. Then I stayed up all night, following the news, constantly switching between CNN and BBC (thanks to Astro), befuddled and dumbfolded by the surreal sensation of it.

The first showing of the United 93's trailer aroused some controversy from viewers who felt that it is still too early to make a movie about September 11 - resulting the trailer being pulled out from several cinemas in New York. It's not hard to understand all the press about this kind of movie. To chronicle the events of the morning of Spetember 11 on film is to accept a set of inescapeable constraints. It is a dounting burden of responsibilities - to the facts, to the sentiments of immediate families, to the Americans and the political issue revolving around the subject matter. Prior to it's release, both the film and director Paul Greengrass were accused of exploiting real-life tragedy, not least because the events portrayed took place less than five years ago.

This film was shot with the usual Greengrass docudrama style - that relies on building up suspense and increasingly fragmented as the film accelerates. United 93 can be devided into two major interwoven parts - it's first half is primary concerned with depicting what went wrong on the ground, potrayed by mostly real-life characters. Devoid of any sensationalism, the second half speculates and re-enacts the hijacking of United Airlines Flight-93 by the Muslim terrorists - while the passengers struggle to retake the aircraft by force. The scene on the plane is probably the hardest part to watch. I can't help but quitely sobbing as the events unfolds - that is where I understood now why Americans think it is too soon. The scenes were brutal but at the same time convincing, it was a very successful real life portrayal that I think most of us, the spectators won't be able to understand, but at the same time, we could really relate to.

A lot of credits must go to the editing people. Some of the most disturbing scences were the subtle but sudden dissapeareance of one of the plane from the radar, and the disturbing murky voice that came out of nowhere saying "We have some planes". But I have to say, no matter how many times I have watch the plane hitting the tower, it still haunts me, and I still gasp everytime I see it.

Dramatic reconstructions of this kind tends to contain elements of advocacy on certain sides, but there are no shock discoveries on any conspiracies or accusatory revelations in United 93 - the geo-political dimensions are largely left in the background. Greengrass depicts this event strictly as a series of abstractions unfolding on the radar screens and monitors of air traffic controls. The 91 minute real-time re-enacting onboard United 93 was also improvised entirely based on known facts and deliberately avoids exaggeration of the events. Having said that, the scences on the plane are well considered and respectfully handled by Greengrass.

However, throughout the film, I can't help but wonder what is the intention of United 93, what is Greengrass trying to achieve with this. It's obvious that this film does not carry any sort of political statement, and I am sure this film is not intended as a commercial entertainment eiter. It is until the end of the movie I came to understand the idea of the United 93. Now it was speculated that the original postscrip for the film was "America's War On Terror Had Begun" which was taught to be too political minded. The final version that made it on screen was the rather sober and appropriate "Dedicated to the memory of all those who lost their lives on September 11th 2001". United 93 intends to dignify those on the flight, ordinary men and women who decided to fight for their live - it captures, without being either manipulative or maudlin, what 9/11 was like. Paul Greengrass has successfuly tells a profoundly emotional story, that is unflinching, and with little dramatic embellishment - which results in a powerful account that is not effected by any sentimentality that often Hollywood tends to do when it comes to depiction of their own history.

This movie will profoundly alter the mood of anybody who live in this generation and has witnessed the September 11 event.