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Greengrass and his filmmakers have told the story, in such a way that is a true re-enactment of the type, of what happened when a flight from Newark to San Francisco was overrun by a Muslim terrorist group that had smuggled a bomb on board. The group was just part of a multiple-plane takeover that was to hit major political and financial headquarters of the United States. The film does not say who or make any comment about why (there is a brief scene at the beginning with the responsible people reading to the Koran before boarding the plane), rather simply showing things as they happen, when they happen.

The viewpoint shifts flawlessly by way of flight 93, air traffic controllers at JFK/LaGuardia, Boston, Cleveland and the FAA national centre as all aspects of flight controllers, pilots and crew discover the situation in real time. There is no “character development” in the film, nor should there be (you see a few characters making idle chatter on Flight 93 as they eat their breakfast, but that’s about it); we pick up their characteristics as the film moves along, rather than have a useless half an hour of exposition.

The scenes of the planes crashing into the World Trade Centre are handled with delicate precision. Instead of seeing the horror of the impact of those planes, we see the reaction of air traffic controllers, military personnel, and other pilots. When the first plane hits, we do not see it; of course we shouldn’t, because nobody else did. The reaction is one of shock, of course, but these people have to keep working hard to keep other planes in the air. It is a great moment in the film when FAA-head Ben Sliney (who plays himself in the film) commands that all US air traffic, including international air coming within American air space, stop immediately. “We are at war with someone,” he says, and it should also be noted that this is his first day on the job.

What is also staggering about the film is how it does not preach any particular point about the politics surrounding 9/11. As I mentioned before, the film is merely show and tell as it happens, and it is up to us to process the information. Greengrass focuses on a pure documentary style, utilizing his trademark handheld cameras to put us right there in the moment, and to get the reactions and genuine emotion of everyone at that particular moment in time. It worked for Greengrass when the Irish fought the British power in “Bloody Sunday”, and it worked for Jason Bourne as he battled and chased around Europe in “The Bourne Supremacy”, and it especially works for the passengers of flight 93, who are all huddled into the back of the plane as a terrorist plot takes life in the cockpit.

It is also important to notice that not only do we not stray from either the plane or the control centres, we don’t even see from outside them. There are no typical establishing shots of NORAD, nor do we see exterior plane shots at any time. By doing this, Greengrass and cinematographer Barry Ackroyd keep us right along with the characters and the human aspect of the story. We see what they see.

“United 93” is not an “entertaining” motion picture; more to the point, it is not a film you will go to see to have a good time. Skip the concession stand. It may not do well in the box office, and I don’t think Greengrass cares either, as it is a film that is important to our generation and future ones. The final twenty minutes, involving the eventual takeover of the plane by its passengers is some of the most emotionally devastating filmmaking I have ever seen, and this along with the entire film has left me shaken. Yet it is something that you need to see, as those people on board Flight 93, who had just learned what had just happened at the WTC, somehow decide ever so quickly to stand up and fight. If that isn’t pure heroism, I don’t know what is.

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originally posted: 05/01/06 00:02:46
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