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Thoughts On What Could Well Be the Best Film of 2006: United 93
Posted by Diggler - 21/9/2006 23:04

After what feels like an endless stream of shit released in movieland throughout 2006, United 93 has rejuvenated a hell of a lot of love for the medium in me. Somewhat ironically I guess, considering the sheer darkness of its subject matter.

United 93 tells the real-life tale of the final hijacked plane from September 11th

The film takes us back to that day of days September 11th, 2001. While horrific images of the World Trace Center and the Pentagon immediately spring to mind the second you hear those words, many forget the unspoken story of that day; that of the fourth plane. Hijacked United flight #93 was similarly bound for the Capital Building in Washington DC that morning - a landmark only topped by the Whitehouse as a sign and symbol of America, if not the western world as a whole.

Thankfully the plane never met its destination though, due entirely to the heroic actions of the hostages on board. As both victims and heroes, this is their story. A dramatisation of that fateful plane journey, pieced together from ground reports, phone conversations and the cockpit voice recorder.

True, some might claim a film based on such a recent tragedy somewhat shameless and tasteless. Has Hollywood shat upon the memory of those that passed away that day by "popcorning" up an unhealable wound? Is this Pearl Harbor on a plane?

Far from it. United 93 is gritty, disturbing, but most of all...truthful.

Flight of Fear

The portrayal of the terrorists is one of alarming depth and, more surprisingly, fear

As a long-time hater of flying - even prior to 9/11 - I was terrified of watching this film. What little ability remained in my body to still board a plane to this day, I feared would be oh so long gone by the end of this flick.

Yet strangely, United 93 kinda had the opposite effect on me. This film is stunningly potent in that regard. Why? For the single reason that it takes the power away from terrorism. They lose that invincible, invulnerable quality that makes living under the fear of an attack so frightening in today's world. Here they are ultimately reduced to a scared, flustering and pathetic site, with genuine fear in those eyes as a plane full of passengers fights back against all odds.

And I tell you, it's one of the most inspirational sights I think I've ever seen.

Docu-Drama

As a film, United looks and feels like a documentary. Conversations cut in and out as if caught by accident, nothing looks or feels staged, and visually one can only presume the sights and sounds are borderline identical to what those poor souls saw and experienced on the day.

In terms of film-making, it's with the acting that things become a little less impressive. As moving as 93 is, its gritty realism comes from the wealth of unknown actors filling its every part. The downside to that is some of them don't quite pull it off. There are no flat out poor performances, it's merely occasional lines and glances that fail to work.

Truth be told though, I welcome this minor breaking of the fourth wall, as it provides brief respite amidst the heart pounding, palm sweating terror that otherwise drowns out the film (almost to unbearable levels). It calmly reminds me that what I'm watching isn't real.

And yet, it is of course. The fact these events all happened some five years ago results in pure horror at this film's core, with a sense of sheer unease I've never experienced in a film before. The moment a box cutter takes its first victim at 35,000 feet is undoubtedly one of the most sheer terrifying sights ever put to screen.

Ground Control

Much of United 93 is centred on the ground in fact, as air traffic controllers try frantically to figure out just what's going on in the skies of America

As well as the events on board United 93 itself, over half the film takes place in nothing but air traffic control rooms dotted around the country, and it's an interesting if frustrating insight into just what it must have been like trying to maintain control on those most insane of days.

Slowly but surely the fateful moments firmly etched infamously into history unfold one by one, from a single airliner losing contact, right up to the final crash into the Pentagon, and I call it frustrating as obviously no one is able to fully grasp just what's happening or why. Hindsight truly is a curse when viewing United 93.

But for all its anxiety, frustration and sheer terror, United strikes back in a hell of a big way in its final 20 minutes. As the heroic passengers claw and clamber their way into the cockpit, disarming and exacting vicious punishment on each of the terrorists in their path, it's alarmingly...euphoric.

It's a powerful display of human spirit that results in an adrenaline rush no action movie nor video game could ever vaguely approach...so much so that you almost think they could pull it off. You feel like history could be rewritten. That these brave souls may just storm their way into that cockpit, drag those murdering bastards out back, and get that old retired pilot planted in their seat to land that bird safely. I genuinely managed to forget for a brief second just what I was watching.

Bravery and heroism you and I will never know, the actions of the passengers that day is unfathomable

Alas, the inevitable fate of history hangs over this film like a pitch black shadow, and as reality kicks back in in those final nerve-wracking 30 seconds - and both passenger and hijacker meet their horrific fate together - I shed a tear. Not one in fact, but several. So close. So fucking, fucking close. And just like that, the film ends.

United 93 is an important and remarkable piece. If you haven't seen it yet, do.