Dir. Paul Greengrass, 2006, France/UK/USA, 111 mins
Cast: J.J. Johnson, Ben Sliney, David Alan Basche, Khalid Abdalla
Review by Carol Allen
As the dreadful events of 9/11 came through, the one story that heartened me on that day was the news that the passengers and crew in the fourth hijacked plane, United Airlines Flight 93, the only ones to know the fate that was in store for them, had prevented their captors from hitting their intended target and given their lives in an attempt to take over the plane. Rather than being victims, they fought back. My thought was, I hope that I would have the courage to do the same under the circumstances.
Nearly five years later, Paul Greengrass's film about that flight is the first dealing with the events of 9/11 to make it to the screen. The next will be Oliver Stone's World Trade Centre later this year.
Despite fears by some people that it was too soon to start turning those tragic events into movies, Greengrass's film is a model of good taste and respect. With his documentary background, he did his research meticulously, consulting the families of the passengers and crew at every stage, and establishing exactly what happened as best he could from those last phone conversations they had with loved ones, along with the findings of the official 9/11 Commission Report. His cast is a
mixture of professional and non-professional actors, including real-life pilot J.J. Johnson playing the pilot of United 93, and Ben Sliney of the Federal Aviation Administration - who was in charge that day - playing himself. Greengrass had an intense rehearsal period with those who were playing the passengers and crew, using improvisation to get them into their characters and create the script, and the result is strong drama with a docu-reality feel.
Despite the fact that we know what is going to happen, he also manages to create a feeling of tension and unpredictability, heightened by unsettling, handheld camera work. Near the beginning of the film, as passengers are preparing to board and the pilot and co-pilot chat on their way to work, one of the hijackers, Ziad Jarrah (Khalid Abdalla) - the gentle-looking young man who will later pilot the plane - makes a mobile phone call. He just says: "I love you". As the flight progresses, the other three terrorists are eager to get on with the plan. He keeps holding them back to wait for the right moment, and you wonder, even though you know it can't happen, is it possible he will realise what he's doing is wrong and call it off? While we, the audience, are fully aware of what
else is happening - as the story cuts from the plane to the outside world, where the aviation and military authorities are struggling to deal with the unprecedented disaster - it is some time before the passengers realise they are not hostages, but victims in a suicide mission, and start to work on their fight-back plan. As they gather possible weapons from the galley, one man says he knows how to pilot a plane but will need a lot of help from ground control. Then we hear that now world-famous phrase from Todd Beamer (David Alan Basche): "Are you guys ready? Let's roll." You find yourself
thinking, "They might just pull it off," even though you know they can't.
This is a very good, very moving film. While having the nail-biting qualities of a disaster drama, it is not making mere entertainment out of tragedy, but leading us to experience vicariously the horror of what happened and, through that, to appreciate and respect the courage of the heroes and heroines of Flight United 93.
Discuss this film here
Universal Pictures have announced the UK Region 2 DVD release of United 93 for 2nd October 2006 priced at £19.99.
Features include:
- 2.35:1 Anamorphic Widescreen
- English & German DD5.1 Surround
- Subtitles: English SDH, German, Arabic, Danish, Finnish, Hebrew, Norwegian, Swedish, Turkish, Icelandic
- Director’s Commentary
- United 93: The Families and the Film (60mins) – Meet the families behind United Airlines Flight 93, share their personal account of the events that changed the lives and why they were interested in supporting the making of the movie
- Memorial Pages – The passengers and crew of United Flight 93 are remembered with 40 written biographies
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