United 93 (2006)
Genre: Drama
Format Viewed: Digital Cable
Filmography links and data courtesy of The Internet Movie Database.
Honestly, I put off watching this movie for a long time because it just didn’t feel right, but it was on HBO late night earlier this week and I thought that it might finally be ok. In afterthought, either it’s still too soon or maybe this story was just never meant to be told as a Hollywood blockbuster…
I compare United 93 to Titanic, in that although they were written as different types of movies, they both still depict horrific tragedies that lost hundreds upon hundreds of lives. And while I do think that part of the problem was the source itself – terrorism was behind the attacks of September 11th, while the loss of the Titanic was due to Mother Nature herself, I think on a more grand scheme the big problem that I had with this movie was simply that if anything, it was too soon by a long shot. Hollywood knew that it was a touchy subject that would fill seats in the theater simply out of patriotism because we’ve been at war with terrorism ever since, and although it might make sense financially, it just didn’t sit well with me. Sure, Titanic also showed us a look at tragedy, but nearly 85 years after it happened – it’s just not the same thing by far.
But as for the movie itself, I can’t deny that it certainly seemed realistic to me, almost to the point of my getting extremely angry with the way things played out, that is whether or not it actually happened that way, mind you. In fact, the movie almost smelled of propaganda to watch how blundering and careless the FAA and other government agencies responded to the idea of multiple planes being hijacked at the same time. Even as a person myself who is admittedly doubtful of what took place that day, it just seemed a little pushy to me … again, I think because it’s just too soon to be seeing anything like that up on the silver screen for mass audiences.
Before I wrote this column of my take on the movie, I did some looking around the Internet to see what other people thought and it’s kind of eerie just how divided the camps really are. On one side of the river, you’ve got a group of people who claim that this is one of the greatest stories ever told, comparable to Schindler’s List and Saving Private Ryan, and that it’s a movie that everyone should see so that we don’t forget what happened on September 11th. On the other side, however, are those closer to my line of thought in believing that Hollywood theatrics just aren’t appropriate for retelling this story, despite patriotism and heroics and so on and so forth. Of course, when the two groups met, accusations of being unpatriotic for not approving of this film flew, along with the coinciding liberal vs. conservative rants, and that’s about the point where I bowed out gracefully…
Point blank, this was a very serious movie and it just seemed too real to be watching those events that unfolded for an unfortunate few on that plane five years ago now unfold for the entire audience to see. Those involved did a frighteningly good job of depicting what possibly happened across America on the morning of September 11th – something that we’ll probably never truly understand for sure – and I suppose I can see how some might see it as a fitting tribute to those who lost their lives when the plane crashed ahead of schedule that day.
At the same time, though, both United 93 and World Trade Center strike a chord with me as movies that should’ve never been made, out of respect for both the victims and their families, and the medium itself. September 11th was a horrific day which will be told in text books and history lessons for eons to come, and we don’t need the backing of Hollywood to help remember what happened. If anything, these stories should be found on the Discovery Channel and The Learning Channel and the History Channel as documentaries of what took place, but not as mainstream entertainment. There are a lot of mainstream blockbusters that are created from true stories and some of them worked better than others, but United 93 I can do without. I don’t need a movie to remember…
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