United 93 (2006) Movie Information:
| United 93 (2006) Directed by: |
 Paul Greengrass |
| United 93 (2006) Written by: |
| Paul Greengrass |
| United 93 (2006) Cast: |
| Khalid Abdalla, Polly Adams, Opal Alladin, David Alan Basche, Starla Benford, Lisa Colón-Zayas, Gary Commock, Trish Gates, Meghan Heffern, J. J. Johnson, Nancy McDoniel, Simon Poland, Olivia Thirlby |
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United 93 (2006) Synopsis:
Acclaimed filmmaker Paul Greengrass (Bloody Sunday, The Bourne Supremacy) writes and directs an unflinching drama that tells the story of the passengers and crew, their families on the ground and the flight controllers who watched in dawning horror as United Airlines Flight 93 became the fourth hijacked plane on the day of the worst terrorist attacks on American soil: September 11, 2001.
Flight 93 recreates the doomed trip in actual time, from takeoff to hijacking to the realization by those onboard that their plane was part of a coordinated attack unfolding on the ground beneath them. The film attempts to understand the abject fear and courageous decisions of those who--over the course of just 90 minutes--transformed from a random assembly of disconnected strangers into bonded allies who confronted an unthinkable situation.
As 2006 marks the passing of five years since the epochal events of 9/11, the time has come for contemporary cinema's leading filmmakers to dramatically investigate the events of that day, its causes and its consequences, and the everyday individuals whose fates were forever altered while simply going about their common workday rituals.
Greengrass, known for films such as Resurrected and Bloody Sunday, brings to Flight 93 a history of compassionate filmmaking that has explored some of the most troubled incidents of recent world history--when politics turns to violence, when beliefs slip into zealotry. As there is no perfect record of the hijacking's exact details and hostage retaliation, Greengrass takes a careful hand and partially improvises the events with an ensemble cast of unknown actors who were given studies of their Flight 93 counterparts.
Flight 93 intends to dignify the memory of those on that flight, the men and women whose sacrifice remains one of the most heroic legacies of the incomprehensible tragedies that unfolded on that autumn morning.
United 93 (2006) Movie Review:
September 11th, 2001. As the passengers board United flight 93 from New York to San Francisco, the captain informed them that this would be a trouble free flight that would see them fly through clear skies and arrive slightly early at their destination. What they didn’t realise was that amongst the forty-four people on the plane, four of them were part of something that would change the world forever. As two planes crash into the World Trade Center and another into the Pentagon, these four take over the flight and turn United 93 towards Washington.
Portraying the events of September 11th, 2001 was always going to be controversial and extremely sensitive but with less than five years since terrorism hit the US in such a devastating way, has Hollywood left it long enough to look back on that day?
British writer/director Paul Greengrass is the first filmmaker to directly tackle portraying the events that took place on that fateful day and this approach is both riveting and harrowing. Instead of concentrating on the devastation that took place in New York and Washington, Greengrass looks that day through the eyes of the people working in the Air Traffic control centres, the military and the passengers and crew of United flight 93. Filmed using a documentary approach, this extremely well researched fictional account of what happened on the United flight and when both the civilian and military authorities realised what exactly was taking place.
The film starts at the beginning of the day. This like any other Tuesday morning in September, as people head to work, start their shifts, plan for the day or board a flight. The people continue with their usual mundane tasks with everything running like clockwork and routine. Briefings take place, meeting happen and breakfast is served onboard the 4200 flights flying over the East Coast of America. It is only when Boston Air Traffic control loses contact with an American Airlines flight that things start to change.
From here on in we discover how unprepared both the US civilian and military authorities are for these acts of terrorism. With cries of “we haven’t had a plane highjacking in twenty-years”, you quickly realise that there was no plan in place for an eventually such as this. Problems with the chain of command, the lack of communication between civilian, military and government and the feeling of being absolutely powerless to stop what was happening is displayed without compromise but never pointing blame at any one authority.
The events on the plane are harrowingly realistic. Paul Greengrass and his creative team took the correct approach by not casting any big name actors as the passengers, crew or terrorists. Instead he casts character actors that you may have seen in small parts or in TV roles but no one you have ever heard of before. This makes the story and the real people they are portraying the main emphasis of the film and not the big name above the title. With this in place, we see a fictionalised account of the events that took place on the plane. Taken from actual recordings of phone calls made by the passengers on the plane, we discover what took place and how the flight was taken over and what happened after that.
‘United 93’ is an astonishing movie that is uncompromising and emotional. By portraying the events in an extremely realistic manner, the film has to be praised for the removal of any sentimentality, patriotic notions or posturing and American flag waving that you may have expected from Hollywood. Instead we have a movie that basically tells the story as it was and is a testament to human bravery and courage but also portrays how far people will go for their cause.
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United 93 (2006) review written by: Jamie Kelwick
