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Windswept
On Pacific time
 
Join Date: May 2004
Location: Moderator's Pub
 
2006-04-18, 21:04

Some comments from one review (globeandmail):

Quote:
NEW YORK -- The first Hollywood feature film to tackle the horrors of Sept. 11, 2001, unfolds with the responsible restraint of a docudrama, proceeding with terrifying inevitability, but largely avoiding sentimentality and the clichéd slick heroics of a Hollywood action picture.

Written and directed by Paul Greengrass, a British filmmaker whose features include the thriller The Bourne Supremacy and the IRA docudrama Bloody Sunday, United 93 is a taut, but sober, take on the events aboard the Boeing 757 that crashed in a field in Shanksville, Pa., on the morning of Sept. 11, 2001, missing its intended target after passengers stormed the cockpit.

But the film, made on a London soundstage, is also a quiet tribute to those on the ground who did their best to fight back at the expanding threat, including air-traffic controllers, U.S. Federal Aviation Administration officials and members of the U.S. military who were hamstrung by delays, communication lapses and perhaps politicians who failed to make vital decisions in time.

Mr. Greengrass even puts some of the real-life heroes on the screen, including the FAA's national operations manager, Ben Sliney, who unilaterally invoked a total shutdown of U.S. airspace when he realized the growing threat. Mr. Sliney plays himself, and the cast includes many other non-professional actors. [...snip...]

Interesting, for a film that presents four Muslims hijacking a plane and killing some of its passengers, United 93 is a rare Hollywood feature that draws its Arabic bad guys with shading and a sense of humanity.
As I said, I am looking forward to this film because the events affected me greatly. I shed many, many tears for all the victims of that day, but I was particularly moved by the people on flight 93. They knew it was a virtual certainty that they were going to die; but instead of falling apart, they discussed, organized, and took action.

I tried to imagine this horrific experience in my own mind. I'm not sure why, exactly. I guess because it's one of the most dramatic situations I've ever heard of; and I feel that those people chose to sacrifice themselves for the rest of us, for our country, to keep the Capitol Bldg. from being incinerated, to spare our nation yet one more horror that day.

I don't think this is exploitation. As the article cites, the family members cooperated with the making of this film. I think if 'they' can believe it's a worthwhile endeavor, then I'm all for it. Plus, it is a pivotal event in American history and should be recorded as accurately as possible, in the best medium available. Just my opinion on the matter.
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