Posted on 04/28/2006 1:21:50 PM PDT by RobFromGa
Just saw United 93-- I thought it was excellent. It evolves in real-time and its cuts back and forth between the Air Traffic controllers, the Military room, and the plane.
It was somewhat shocking to watch the level of confusion in terms of what was going on, but when you see what information that they were dealing with, it makes sense.
The hijackers to me came across more as fanatical than evil, and they were not turban-wearing obvious characters, they were cleaned up and I ride on planes with people like them on every flight I take.
In the movie, they are carrying out the plans of others and are obsessive in their task. We are not fighting an enemy that is likely to be reasoned with.
There is one character that I'm glad they included- he has a European *maybe French* accent and he makes a number of comments along the lines of "If we do what they say, they'll spare our lives"-- typical appeasement mentality.
Thanks to this group of heroes, many thousands of lives may have been spared and we kept the Islamic nuts from claiming the Capitol or White House as a prize.
I give in 9.5/10!
None of us want any American to find the real depths of their strength and bravery. But if it happened again (and I'm afraid it might), I think the average American will do what they have to do. It's who we are.
I just saw the movie tonight. About two-thirds of the way through, I had the urge to yell something at the screen. Fortunately, my better self prevented it.
But hey, now that I'm in Freeperville, the land that political correctness forgot:
"ISLAM IS A DEATH CULT. RADICAL ISLAMICISTS WISH TO KILL OR ENSLAVE EVERY AMERICAN. WE RISK LOSING THIS WAR BECAUSE TOO MANY NARCISSISTIC AMERICANS REFUSE TO BELIEVE ANY FOREIGN POWER COULD THREATEN THEM. THE MUSLIMS ARE MAKING A STAND IN THE BATTLE OF IDEAS BY TWISTING THE MEANING OF WORDS AND ATTEMPTING TO SUPPRESS UNPLEASANT FACTS. WESTERN CULTURE IS THE GREATEST CULTURE IN THE HISTORY OF THE WORLD IN TERMS OF PROVIDING FREEDOM AND PROSPERITY FOR ITS PEOPLE. THOSE WHO FAIL TO STAND UP FOR WESTERN CIVILIZATION IN THE FACE OF THE EVIL OF ISLAM ARE DANGEROUS FOOLS!!!!!!!!!"
Anyway, great movie. Thank you for indulging my rant. I liked the portrayal of the Air Force and the Air Traffic Controllers. It was a very believable portrayal of how people act in a crisis with limited information.
mt thought is "this is war"...It was excellent
About 30 people in the 4:20 showing at the Academy 8 in Greenbelt, Maryland. I restrained myself for most of the flick but started gushing tears during the credits. All but three of us left at the start of the credits. Those folks seemed a bit hurried to me.
I'm ready to nominate Paul Greentree for both writing and directing awards. The script was tight and the direction masterful.
What struck me most was the chaos on the plane, in the military command center, in the atc center. In hearing the story of Todd Beamer et. al. I saw things a bit more clinical then they played out (much more realistically) in the movie.
I was more sympathetic toward the hijackers than I thought I would be. I saw them more as driven by an external evil force than as intrinsically evil.
I will see United 93 again at least once before it ends its run, and I will get the dvd as soon as it is released.
I believe most of the rating is based on the language that is more likely than fanciful - a military officer saying "this is no s##t, we have a real world hijacking" or words to that effect. Also a controller says something like "I know what I f###ing heard!" when speaking of a radio transmission from an aircraft. Your boy can handle it well I'm sure.
I thought as a film student I would add some content to the discussion, specifically addressing some of your concerns and my own thoughts on the film as well.
I was particularly proud to see someone identify the film as being in the style of "cinema verite" or "direct cinema".
This type of filmmaking was popularized by artists like Robert Drew in the 1960s by films such as "Crisis" and "Primary" and continued by the Maysles brothers during the 1970s in films like "Gimme Shelter" (the document of the Rolling Stones disaster in Altamont) and "Grey Gardens". In verite, the camera is an objective viewpoint. The goal of verite is to present the most unbiased and truthful portrayal as possible. Greengrass accomplishes this in UNITED 93 by using minimal exposition and his now signature handheld camera style.
As some of you surely noticed, there is hardly an exposition in the film. We meet the passengers and the hijackers, though we are never formally introduced by way of greetings (as passengers sit next to each other and make casual conversation) nor do we learn more about the characters through flashback or other similar cinematic devices. The image we are presented onscreen is as much information as the film allows us to absorb. I'm sure many of you did not know who Todd Beamer was in the film until he almost incomprehensibly mutters the word "roll" before the eventual attack. Mr. Beamer's portrayal brings up another reason why cinema verite is so effect at humanizing the portrayal of the characters. In a lesser film, the camera would have slowly dollied into Beamer in a close up before exclaiming "LET'S ROLL!" as the music swells to an emotional crescendo. I think this is a masterful touch on the director's part, because the immediacy and disorientation of the scene are brought at full speed to the audience. If this film were made according to traditional Hollywood sterotypes, there would be numerous cutaways to perfectly manicured houses on residential streets as people receive their horrifying phone calls from the passengers on United 93. This is not a part of the verite style, and only serves to drain the tension from the scene. Greengrass wants your insides to be in knots, but he does not want to rub your nose in the terror that took place.
I don't know if some of you noticed it, but the last 25 minutes of the film are spent entirely inside the cabin of United 93. The editing (which I'm sure will be nominated for an Oscar) does not allow the audience to catch it's breath. The immediacy of the drama I feel is one of the film's strong points. We are not allowed to breathe, to relax and scenes that some of you requested to be thrown in such as shots of mayhem in NYC would only be a detriment to the film. The plan to retake the aircraft and implement it is also stunningly brief. Again, in a lesser film, there would be an entire act of anticipation before the rush, while in this film, Greengrass has it occur mere minutes after first being brought up.
It is in this sense of gripping terror that we experience in a minute form what those passengers surely must have felt. In the end, the film was catharsis for me. As the camera finally finds focus on a patch of green Earth out the cockpit window, we are allowed peace, even though the fuzzy flash of arms and weapons stray across the screen until the end.
The film does not fetishize, nor does it apologize. I too experienced the same panic and feeling of helplessness that I experience as a 17 year old in a lonely high school radio station on the morning of September 11th. I have never cried in a film before, but United 93 made me weep and I strongly credit director Paul Greengrass. Some of you may find fault with Greengrass because he is an avowed liberal and to boot, not an American. I think it is incredibly irresponsible on the part of some of you to find contention with this, or to fault Greengrass because of it. I think he has made a horrifyingly beautiful document of an important moment in American history that only 44 people experienced.
I myself am politically moderate, but I think that it is important to realize that this film serves as a document to a time when Americans united in love for their brothers and sisters. The effects of this film transcend political spectrum. I went to the film with members of both Republican groups and Democratic groups at my school. We were all in tears by the time the camera cuts to black, if not sobbing.
I think one critic put it best. "In 111 minutes, a film went from being inappropriate to indispensable." This is not a film that apologizes for the actions of the hijackers, nor is it a piece of jingoistic patriotism. Both would weaken the film, and I am glad Greengrass found no place for either in his telling.
I think it is the most of important film of our time. I hope you all agree with me, for the right reasons.
Thanks.
I saw it in downtown Boston tonight, 8 PM showing. The place was packed. I wasn't sure how I was going to feel going in. The trailer caused me to break down. I was afraid there were going to be loony lefties disrupting things. (There weren't.) I went with a group of friends, but wasn't sure what we were going to say to each other afterwards, or how we would react. It was an event that was at once intensely personal, but something I needed to share with my loved ones. As you make plans to see it, consider the importance of coming together with your loved ones.
I have never forgotten the events of 9/11. But I finally *remembered* them. This was something unlike anything I have ever seen before. It brought back the frustration and impotence of that day, as well as the pride and courage and strength.
By simply portraying the events as they happened, without swell of music and cinematic heavy-handedness, the message came through loud and clear.
[spoilers ahead]
The Lord's Prayer/Muslim prayer reference, and the Muslim prayers to open it brought home the stark conflict of civilizations.
[end spoilers]
I have seen this as a clash between the Bible and the Koran - between Western Christianity and Islam. But to see the faces of the murderers on the screen, as they chant their vile hatred, it caused the people I saw it with to see it, too.
I went with a group of journalists and their wives. The wives were ready to enlist, and wanted to know what they could do to support the war. The husbands were right there, too. We talked about it for hours. We all left with newfound resolve. There was also a new 9/11 Democrat born tonight. I still want to talk about it, but I just don't have the words. Maybe I will later... I know I will.
After the title cards at the end, and before the credits began to roll, a woman sitting in the front said: "God bless our country" there was an instant chorus of hearty "Amen"s followed by applause. This is Boston. Gives me hope.
Indeed, God bless America.
I might get angry again, but that is good.
I'm debating taking my older children
The f-bombs were limited and strategically placed. A couple of s-bombs sounded as well. But it was all the language of folks in very intense situations. I would take my 31 y/o daughter. And I would have taken her if she were 14 also.
I hope it was for the right cause...that they approved of the movie. Anyways, I didn't stay.
You should find the portrayal of the air traffic controllers believeable, because many of those in the film are the actual people who were there.
Especially when the 2nd plane hit the Tower...I remember someone saying Holy S...
I would have said the same...even worse words.
Just got home, went to a 10:30 PM showing in Massachusetts. The theatre was about 1/3 full.
It was a terrible, awful thing to watch. I can clearly understand some people not wanting to see it.
Nearly the entire movie, once the hijackings started, was nearly as intense as the first 30 minutes of Saving Private Ryan. For me, that says a lot.
My brother didn't say a word for nearly a half hour after the movie. I was the only one who uttered even a word leaving the movie theater, and my inital comments as the lights came up were: "Those F******* sons of a b
Well, I didn't constrain myself during the movie..I said some harsh words to the terrorists...out loud. I can imagine what the guy next to me was thinking. LOL
I think a lot of credit should be given to the young men who had the extreme task of portraying the men who hijacked United 93. It certainly must not be enviable to be the embodiment of a shameful few who forever tainted their culture.
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