Posted on 04/26/2006 1:19:44 PM PDT by West Coast Conservative
The sobbing at the back of the auditorium was not the sentimental sniffling you normally hear at the cinema. It was the full-throated grief customarily heard in a hospital or funeral home.
But last night anguished families wailed as they watched the last moments of their loved ones unfold on screen at the world premiere of Hollywood’s first film about the September 11 hijackings, United 93, by the British writer-director Paul Greengrass.
About 90 relatives of the 40 victims mustered the courage to walk the red carpet to watch Mr Greengrass’s disturbingly realistic depiction of the passenger revolt that brought the aircraft down in a field in Pennsylvania and saved the US Congress from attack.
"It’s horrific to see my brother Edward on the screen, knowing what is going to happen," said Gordon Felt. "It’s shattering, but it needs to be. This is a violent story."
Some cinemas in New York have pulled the graphic trailer for United 93 in the run-up to Friday’s scheduled release because of protests from traumatised New Yorkers that it was "too soon".
But Robert De Niro’s Tribeca Film Festival - founded to revive the lower Manhattan neighbourhood after the 2001 attacks on the World Trade Center - insisted on holding the premiere of Greengrass’s film.
"Some people will not want to see the film. People find the subject too hard. I respect that," Mr Greengrass acknowledged. But, he added, "Remembering is painful. It’s diffcult. But it can be inspiring and it can bring wisdom."
Despite the ornate surroundings of the Zeigfeld Theatre in midtown Manhattan, the screening was almost certainly the most sombre film premiere in New York’s history.
The audience gave the victims’ families a standing ovation before the film started, but were overwhelmed towards the end by the relatives’ open weeping and left the auditorium in stunned silence.
The audience included former Senator Bob Kerrey, a member of the official 9/11 inquiry; New York’s police commissioner Ray Kelly; actor Steve Buscemi, a former fireman who joined the rescue effort at Ground Zero; and the real-life air-traffic controllers who played themselves in the movie.
But the British-based Iraqi actor, Lewis Alsamari, who plays one of the hijackers, was unable to attend because he could not obtain a US visa.
The film, made with the co-operation of the victims’ families, sticks scrupulously to the plot laid out in the 9/11 report commissioned by Congress as it portrays the hijacking in real-time.
The result is a kaleidoscope of shards of information about the attack - including real footage of the blazing World Trade Centre towers - without any attempt at embellishing the story or developing the individual characters.
It starts with the hijackers reciting the Koran in their hotel room and ends, abruptly, as the passengers try to seize the flight controls, with a shocking view through the cockpit window of the jet plunging into the Pennsylvania field.
"It’s a powerful story. It’s hard to watch. But it’s an important motion picture," said Alice Hoagland, whose rugby-playing son Mark Bingham took part in the revolt. "As a mum who lost a son fighting terrorism on Flight 93 and as a flight attendant, I know we have a lot to do." "Although it ended up in tragedy, there is a glimmer of hope because you see the building of Congress still standing," she said.
The evening had a patriotic bent, with ushers handing out "Stars and Stripes" lapel pins. Universal Pictures, the distributor, announced it would donate 10 per cent of the first weekend’s box office to a memorial for the Flight 93 victims.
"The stars are truly those people in the plane," said Ben Sliney, the Federal Aviation Authority’s operations manager who plays himself in the film. "That is something I would have done. I think I would have gone down fighting like that. It’s the American way."
Ken Nacke, whose brother was one of the passengers, said he found himself "rooting for them, for a different outcome".
Omar Berdouni, a Moroccan actor who plays one of the hijackers, rejected suggestions that Arab cinema-goers might see the film as a tribute to the terrorists. "To an Arabic audience, the people do not represent Arabs or Moslems. These people are from a sect. They do not represent me or my society," he said.
Mr Greengrass said it was "humbling" to bring the film in New York. "There is a great debate going on on where we are going in the post 9/11 world,", he said. "This is part of the process of film-makers saying ‘We would like to join that conversation’."
The film-maker, whose previous features include "Bloody Sunday", said he was chastened by his experience of working in Northern Ireland.
"I think Northern Ireland is one of the few examples of where political violence has been negotiated away thanks to the political engagement of all the parties in a peace agreement. My time making films there has shown me it takes a long time," he said. "It took us a generation."
I also heard that the first weekend a portion of profits are being donated to charity.
We are thinking about going this weekend. It sounds from all the reviews that it is well done....unlike some future ones being made. At least that is my prediction.
I'm sorry - I dont see why EVERY single thread has to have a border issue statement added.
I agree. But I bet those homosexual gun grabbers would have a thing or two to say....
This is the movie's strength. And it is also the bain of all Murtha loving liberal socialist wing nuts who want to bring the troops home and hunker down in fortress America, so the selfish liberal bustards can enjoy a few more years of their illusion of Utopia.
I plan to see the film ASAP.
NE OUBLIE !!!!
In a similar vein: I used to rant and rave every four years about how we were robbed in the '72 Olympics basketball finals against the USSR. One day, about three years ago I got a call from my son, who was on deployment at the time. He had just watched that game on "ESPN Classics" on board ship. He got angry after watching the game and he called me to tell me that now he understood why I was still got PO'd at the mention of the game. He and I both had a good laugh about it.
If you can, you should call him, I know he would appreciate it.
Steve Buscemi is also one of the actors that quietly supports the troops. A co-workers son was injured in Iraq and when she went to visit him at Walter Reed, Buscemi and a few other actors were there. She had her sons picture taken with him and Adam Sandler. Buscemi is no problem, but I'm still trying to find a Adam sandler movie I like. Maybe if he did one called "Lunch lady". I believe Buscemi has also visited the troops in Iraq.
From what I've heard, on 9/12 Buscemi just showed up with his gear at his former fire house in Little Italy and went to work at Ground Zero.
He worked 12-hour shifts in the wreckage for a week. No camera crew, no publicity release, he wouldn't even give any interviews.
A wrenching reminder of 9/11 was surrounded with red-carpet hoopla at the world preempreem of "United 93," which kicked off the fifth edition of the Tribeca film fest Tuesday at GothamGotham's Ziegfeld theater. After the film's devastating final scene, the screen abruptly went dark and a cacophony of loud, uncontrollable sobs could be heard coming from the back of the theater, where many of the nearly 100 family members of 9/11 victims were seated.
Some were seeing the film for the first time. As more than 1,100 viewers filed out, a funereal silence filled the theater.
And as the sobbing continued after the screening, there were sounds of other people comforting the family members and taking them outside.
As people were filing out, there was a strange encounter as some family members came face to face with an actor who played a hijacker. One quietly told the thesp, "You were very brave."
A low-key mood continued at the post-screening reception at the Four Seasons where the families mingled with other attendees like N.Y. Police Commissioner Ray Kelly and NBC News' Brian Williams.
The film, the first major studio pic to revisit the 2001 tragedy, has an urgent documentary style and the reaction of Tuesday's crowd suggests that public reaction to the pic, which bows Friday, will be even more intense than many had even anticipated.
Before the pic, Gordon Felt, a family member who is leading the cause for the memorial, stood to thank Universal execs and helmer Paul GreengrassPaul Greengrass, a move that fit with larger U campaign to generate goodwill and word of mouth.
Before the film, Greengrass and the fest's Robert De NiroRobert De Niro and Jane RosenthalJane Rosenthal also made pitches for project's importance.
A stream of family members also walked the red carpet, ahead of the stars arriving for the fest's opening night. Paparazzi, print journos and TV reporters jockeyed to question them on their assessment of the film.
But even as the family members were giving interviews, the scene reverted to a more typical red carpet, with photographers yelling for closeups from Tom Selleck, Carol Kane and other celebs gathered for the preem.
Though trailers for the film were yanked a few weeks ago after some Gotham filmgoers protested that it was too soon to revisit the 9/11 events, some of the victims' family members expressed satisfaction with the pic and U's subtle handling of the film's promotion.
"I would have preferred everything about this be a documentary," said Sarah Wainio, whose sister Elizabeth was a passenger on the flight. "But for a Hollywood feature I thought they did a good job."
Others noted that they continued to doubt government accounts of the attack.
Across the street from the Ziegfeld, a small group of protesters gathered, calling for an "end to the media blackout," but the focus was mostly on the red carpet.
Preem also featured 9/11 figures like Bob Kerrey, as well as MPAAMPAA chief Dan Glickman, who, when asked about U's handling of the marketing, called it "tasteful" and said, "If Hollywood can't make a movie about real events, what can it make a movie of?" He said that "the proof is in the pudding, because families seem to be satisfied."
Despite the approval of family members, most agreed on one thing. "I think we all agree it would be better if we didn't have to be here at all."
http://www.variety.com/VR1117942055.html
What PA. people should do is go to this jackass's office and tell him:
'STAY THE HELL OUT OF PA. POLITICS' He doesn't live here, he doesn't pay taxes here, he doesn't represent us, so get out of our business.
If we want a Memorial, its none of N.C.'s business!!!
fargo was the bomb :)
Generally I agree -- no more federal purchase of western lands for wilderness, parks, etc. But this is different, IMO. However, I hope the memorial designers have ditched the Islamic crescent landscaping -- that was a disgrace to the victims and to our way of life.
Here's another:
Ben Sliney, national operations manager for the FAA at Kennedy Airport, was in the control tower when the tragedies of Sept. 11 unfolded. He later testified before the 9/11 Commission.
A professional actor was hired to play him in the movie, but after Sliney arrived on set, he took over the job of playing himself. It’s one of those strange Hollywood stories, but Ben Sliney turns out to be the star of “United 93.”
If he wanted one, he could have an acting career, perhaps. Alas, he doesn’t seek the fame. But Sliney becomes the moral and sympathetic center of the story as chaos unfolds quickly. You keep hoping while he’s on screen that all the people in the FAA are like him.
While sane reviwers are saying this is a must see, the slimes says the relatives had to endure it.
No bias here.
1,700 acres? Why is there a need for that many acres for a memorial? There's something going on in addition to a memorial.
Yeah, mine too. What's wrong with our screens?
He's a great actor, but his staunch support of gays and gay marriage (not to mention gay films) leaves a lot to be desired in the guy. Hell even a lot of Democrats support our guys us in Iraq, though I disagree with them on 99% of any other political topic.
"The Wedding Singer" is probably his most popular and widely appreciated film, because it's an old-fashioned romantic comedy, and for once he doesn't play a character who has a mental age of ten.
My daughter (she's 2.5) says "your eyes are running mommy" :)
LOL.
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