film fan finding:united 93

May 25, 2006 at 5:13 pm | In Reviews, Movies, *United 93 | No Comments

I’m not bothered by the fact that Hollywood has already started making movies depicting the events of 9/11. I’m not bothered by the fact that some of my friends don’t understand why I’m not hesitant to watch United 93. What does bother me is that I didn’t like the movie as much as I feel I should have.

The first third of United 93 shows the various air traffic control centers and the myriad procedures and people involved in regulating our air space on a daily basis. Interspersed with those scenes are brief snippets of the people waiting for their flight — ordinary people on vacation or a business trip on just another ordinary day.

Even though you know what’s going to happen, the tension is inescapable. you think if only the military had coordinated better with aviation officials, perhaps fewer hijacked flights would have gotten in the air. If only the United passengers had acted sooner, perhaps they might have been able to bring the plane up out of that fatal nosedive. If only, if only.

The director made an interesting choice in having many of the air traffic controllers and military personnel play themselves. This unpolished presentation and the shaky hand-held camera style create a documentary, real-time-action feel. Although the onboard cell phone goodbye scenes were gut-wrenching as expected, the overall emotional impact was diluted somewhat by the cuts back and forth from aboard the plane to the air traffic control towers. Perhaps this was a deliberate attempt to soften the viewer’s emotional trauma, but to me it somewhat diminished the film’s impact.

I caught one of the United 93 TV movies on cable a few months ago and found that TV movie more emotionally resonant and moving than this very valiant attempt.

Film Fan Finding: B+