Posted on 04/16/2006 5:31:56 PM PDT by DieHard the Hunter
New Zealand September 11 hero Alan Beaven is to be immortalised in the first Hollywood movie about the terrorist attacks, but his Auckland family will not rush to see the film.
Beaven's brother, Ralph Beaven, said the idea of watching a film of his brother's ordeal was traumatic.
Universal Studios is soon to release United 93, which will focus on the United Airlines flight which crashed in a field in Pennsylvania before it could reach its intended target in Washington DC, thought to be the White House.
It is believed the hijackers failed in their mission because a group of heroic passengers, including former Auckland University student Beaven, stormed the cockpit. Beaven will be played in the movie by British actor Simon Poland.
A year after the 2001 attacks, Beaven's wife, Kimi, revealed to the Sunday Star-Times that her husband's remains were found in the cockpit of Flight 93 and his voice was on the cockpit voice recorder.
The film, to open on April 28 in America, has ignited debate there over whether the country is ready for such a vivid portrayal of the attacks.
When a trailer advertising the film was played at Grauman's Chinese Theatre in Hollywood, audience members began calling out, "Too soon!"
The trailer contains news film of one of the planes about to hit the World Trade Center, and a cinema in Manhattan took the rare step of pulling it from its screens after several complaints.
"One lady was crying," the manager told a local paper. "I don't think people are ready for this."
Ralph Beaven said he would not go to the cinema to watch the film. "For me personally, I'm not sure I'd go along, I think it would be a little too close to home. I don't want to go down that track again.
"It would be very emotionally charged, especially seeing someone else represent your brother."
He said he might consider watching it later in the privacy of his home, if it was issued on DVD.
His brother had been an environmental lawyer in San Francisco who had fought for the underdog against big corporations, and who did not seek the limelight.
"He was not the sort of person who deliberately set out to have a lot of publicity. He was a down-to-earth Kiwi, he wore jeans and jandals."
Beaven said he had never received official word as to what exactly his brother's role was on the flight, and he believed Kimi Beaven's belief he had fought with the hijackers was conjecture.
sad Kiwi story *ping*
I would imagine they would keep them. Since they took the risks and invested the capital, after all.
True, but some do. And so will the children who didn't live it.
> If people can't handle films about 9/11/01 almost 5 years later, they never would have made it through World War 2. Hollywood was pumping out war films like you wouldn't believe back then.
...including some real funny ones. I don't remember it's title, but there was one with the Andrews Sisters in it, doing a tune "We're Six Jerks in a Jeep..." Good for a chuckle!
Or "Def Fuhrer's Face", with Donald Duck. Would to God that Disney got off its @rse, stopped making puerile PC cartoons and hauled out Donald Duck to do a number on Bin Laden.
Could it be that Society has forgotten to laugh in the face of adversity? Dunno. Maybe that's why this war is so hard.
Bingo.
Then again, German immigrants never butchered Walt Disney in the street like a dog.
Donald Duck wasn't in WW2. Those were general propaganda films to educate, promote and entertain about the Military and the war.
THESE movies are about real people, with real names, that really died while we are still in the war.
AND the enemies have not yet been named, only the coups.
Yes. I bugs me when someone who has suffered a great loss in a major event thinks they can control us from then on. Yes, you had a loss, but you are not in charge of our lives. You cannot expect us to bow before your loss forever and to do your will. Example: Cindy Sheehan.
If cinemas never ran movies people cried about, they wouldn't have much to show or from which to profit.
NO one has to PAY to see it.....it's optional...you see....this is AMERICA.
If you ask me, folks on the left are just upset that this movie will establish the truth of what happened in people's minds before Oliver Stone can come out with his hatchet job next year.
I think you nailed it.
Look, my father (a Holocaust survivor) went to see Schindler's List in the theater and had to walk out in the middle. It was still "too soon" after 50 years, and it may always be "too soon" for those personally involved. That is understandable.
If this film is correctly handled, it will show how these brave Americans (and others) saved the lives of MANY PEOPLE who don't even realize it.
The heroes of Flight 93 may have saved the lives of people in the White House or Capitol, though they would probably have evacuated in time. Still, the buildings were spared a ghastly symbolic destruction.
They undoubtedly saved the lives of people in their homes, at work, or on highways anywhere in the plane's path toward DC. These innocents do not to this day realize the danger they were in if those brave souls on Flight 93 didn't actively plan for unpopulated land below them before taking back the cockpit.
By their example, they saved the lives of everyone on the plane with Richard Reid.
The heroism shown on Flight 93 has effectively prevented such a takeover from ever happening again, and the terrorists know it.
I would be sick to my stomach if my loved one on that plane was turned into a show for profit.
Central planning for the film industry. That's why the Soviet film industry is now preeminent
Since when are Manhattan and Hollywood cinema audiences representative of America? Typical liberals, they were just as 'worried' about the 'vivid portrayal' of Christ's suffering in The Passion.
With all due respect, why do we care what victims' families think about this film? I really don't think it is relevant, so long as the facts are accurate. The film and those like it are for everyone else, so we will never forget the mass murdered inflicted on America by Islam on that black day.
Never forget.
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Full screen. Speakers up.
As I said before, this film does not exist in a vacuum.
Films have been and will be used by leftist conspiracy mongers to further their agendas. The most popular Internet download these days is an execrable bit of conspiracy mongering about how the 9/11 attacks were arranged by President Bush in order to profit from stock manipulations. Frankly, in this context, I am happy to see a movie that has, by all accounts, a fairly straightforward and factual treatment.
It has been four-and-a-half years. People may not want to see this movie, and they are perfectly within their rights to skip it. But I do not share the opinion that four-and-a-half years later is too soon.
I can understand family not wanting to see it. As for the rest of us, well it's not news that liberals can't face reality, so I predict this movie will bomb at the box office. Not enough Freepers to make a difference. Hope I'm wrong though.
> THESE movies are about real people, with real names, that really died while we are still in the war.
Which is why I am of two minds on this particular movie. I will attend. And I will respect viewpoints such as yours (and the Beaven family's) because they are valid.
And yes, Donald Duck was in WW-II. Served bravely and well and was given honorable discharge.
Then stay at home. Flight 93 is a celebration of heroism, and that's why it's got the libs ruffled.
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