Posted on 05/07/2006 10:53:29 AM PDT by Ramius
Somebody has bought tickets to “United 93.” The movie about heroism about the doomed Sept. 11 flight grossed $11.6 million in sales and finished second place (to “RV”) when it debuted last weekend.
Directed and written by Paul Greengrass, the docudrama has gotten spectacular critical reviews. But those same reviews tell you why “United 93” poses no box office threat to “Mission: Impossible III.” Roger Ebert of The Chicago Sun-Times, for example, called it “masterful and heartbreaking” – but also “deeply disturbing.” Gary Thompson of the Philadelphia Daily News described it as “taut, clinical, almost merciless.”
Audience reaction has been somber, especially in areas directly affected by the Sept. 11 terror attacks. No one expected otherwise.
Weeping has been frequently reported during showings. One New Yorker described “United 93” to the New York Daily News as “just very disturbing.” Her husband said, “I guess it’s a form of shock.” One Long Island woman told Newsday: “During the movie, I heard a lot of sobbing, and when it ended, there was just silence. Almost everyone left with their hands crossed in front of them and their heads bowed down as if it were a wake or funeral.”
For the most part, Americans – including members of this newspaper’s editorial board – haven’t been able to bring themselves to watch a movie that vividly recreates so much of the horror and pathos of Sept. 11. It’s just hard to buy a ticket and board Flight 93 knowing beforehand how the tragedy will end and how skillfully and heartbreakingly Greengrass has no doubt rendered it.
This says something about drama’s almost mystical power over the human psyche. For some elusive reason, a well-told story can be unbearably, painfully, excruciatingly real.
It also says the wounds ripped open in this country by Sept. 11 are a long, long way from being healed. It is too easy to imagine ourselves or our loved ones caught by chance, not so long ago, on one of those doomed flights, in one of the twin towers or in the west side of the Pentagon. Part of the horrifying brilliance of “United 93,” according to reviewers, lies in the very ordinariness of its characters.
When the trauma of that day is further behind us, more Americans will probably embrace this film. But not yet. Not yet.
Yes, but anything that tightens Americans' resolve over the war against "The Axis of Evil", will probably improve president Bush's approval ratings.
I don't understand...?
I don't think it was too soon. I think this movie was neutral; and thus, pro-terrorist.
Exactly.
Look, I gave a logical explanation of my opinion. There is no reason for you to turn on me for believing that Hollywood hoodwinked patriotic Americans one more time. The law of averages is on my side.
The people on the plane were not terrorized. They fought back.
Depicting the people you're waging war against as fighting back and succeeding in screwing up your plans is not the ideal recruitment scenario, any more than a movie about Germans or Japanese winning a battle would be the ideal recruitment video during WW2.
I'm not turning on you. You're merely wrong.
The story does take sides. If you can't see it then there is nothing else to discuss. How you continue to bang this ridiculous drum is frankly a bit annoying, but it is probably just going to become amusing.
They fought back because they were terrorized. A Muslim would ask what else could they do - because the movie doesn't take sides. And, the missing vote could have clarified that.
There is no evidence of that.
I saw United 93 on Friday.
I don't fully agree with you. It does indeed show the hijackers in a 'sympathetic' light, but does not seem to in any way take their side. I agree it doesn't specifically ever say, "these guys are evil" but I think it shows them doing evil things. And yes, the real terrorists might enjoy this movie too. But I think that's just cuz they're so stupid. Like when the idiot last week, after begging for the death penalty, declared victory when he was instead given life. Stupid people just don't get it, and believe everything they see/hear supports them.
They do spend a lot of screen time showing the idiots praying, and being devout, and such. I personally would prefer a movie that showed some of the many day-to-day idiocies such people engage in, to fully establish their character.
But for typical moviemaking reasons, they chose no to flesh out characters in the terrorist. Instead, they just showed carbon-copied, stereotypical 'devout muslim terrorists' with no actual personality.
Terrorized people are sheep that do what they're told.
Courageous people fight back against that which *seeks* to terrorize them. There is a difference between fear and terror, if you wish.
You seem to think that there is something wrong because if a muslim fanatic watched the movie he'd probably identify with the terrorists. Well... duh... nomatter what treatment they got in the movie (hardly sympathetic as you seem to think) a terrorist is always going to identify himself in the story.
Obviously, I saw the movie. If you had read my posts you couldn't help but know that.
I agree with that, but the larger point she was making that this is some kind of 'recruiting' film for Al Queda I think completely misses the point.
9/11 was a recruiting event for Al Queda. Telling the story does indeed make people take sides. Good.
No, I believe the director made the movie in a way that allows terrorists to believe that they had a victory. That makes it a bad movie.
I've seen the movie and think everyone should see it. The movie has done ok at the box office, however, I thought the movie would be a huge box office hit as the "Passion of The Christ". Don't know why it is not.
What bothers me is that I have talked to some fellow conservative men who are actually squeamish about watching a movie about 9-11. Unbelievable!
I agree -- that misses the point.
It is unfortunately true that this will be a recruiting film for anyone who *wants* to die achieving nothing. But there's nothing you can do about stupid people like that. These folks are so stupid they don't know to bring a lighter to light their shoe bombs.
I like the 'Carlos Mencia' approach to all of this, myself. These pathetic pukes don't know what crazy *is*. They blow up 2 of our buildings, we blow up 2 of their countries. Then they declare victory -- cuz that's what they do. Always pretend you win. Never admit you've lost. No matter how stupid you look. Remember Baghdad Bob?
But remember what kind of stupid people we're dealing with.
Last week, when that idiot got life after fighting for the death penalty, he then declares victory.
"I meant for you to do that!"
Stupid people believe that everything supports their ideas and actions. A stupid man hitting on a woman who slaps him thinks she's just playing hard to get.
You can't worry about what stupid people think.
Well... try this on for size then: 9/11 *was* a victory for the terrorists. They won the day. They brought down the World Trade Center and took out a huge section of the Pentagon. As missions go, it was a raging success for them.
Just as Pearl Harbor was a victory for the Japanese Navy.
Should the film have denied this? Of course not.
What Flight 93 represents however is the first return of fire. The first response to their attack. The first people to fully understand the nature of the day made a courageous decision to fight back. If this doesn't capture the basic true American spirit, in the face of evil, I don't know what does.
It's a story that needs to be told, and it was done just right in this film.
You mean, like, Democrats?
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