Tanya Batson-Savage, Freelance Writer
Passengers of United Airlines Flight 93 prepare to fight back against their hijackers. - CONTRIBUTED
UNITED 93 is the story of the fourth plane hijacked in the United States on September 11, 2001, and the only one which did not make it to its target. If one has much invested in the American tragedy of 9/11, it might prove gripping fare. If not, it's a pretty uninteresting movie.
Interestingly, the same element that makes it uninteresting is what makes United 93 a very good recount of the events of the day. Written and directed by Paul Greengrass, the movie shuns most of the elements that one would expect of a contemporary film, even a medium budget one, much less a blockbuster.
The film shuns artifice and, therefore, some of the artistry of filmmaking, but it works in its favour. As such, Greengrass is able to paint a rather realistic image of what Americans went through and does so successfully without trying to sensationalise the story. United 93 focuses on all the elements that would have been left out of a regular blockbuster film about a hijacking. It highlights that the day had been just a regular one, showing flight checks, the fuelling of the plane and other quite normal procedures.
REAL-WORLD IMAGES
The passengers were just ordinary Americans and the film highlights this. Costuming and make-up are used to keep them in the real world, safe from the make-believe elements of film. In the same vein, lighting and camera are also used to keep the image looking like a report from the evening news.
In this way Greengrass plays on the dramatic irony of the situation to build the tension. As the passengers and air traffic controllers attempt to flounder around, the audience already knows what has happened and what will happen. Additionally, rather than music, the soundtrack sounds like a rapidly beating heart.
The film jumps between the United 93 flight and various air traffic control centres around the United States. The story is carefully crafted to move from an ordinary, easy morning to a time of desperation. It presents a graphic image of the pain and fear of the passengers and interestingly juxtaposes the prayers of the hijackers with those of the passengers.
Shaky camera work helps to heighten the sense of urgency, and as the film moves toward its conclusion the camera gets less steady and less focused, so that the climax is a blur of activity and a desperate struggle wherein nothing specific can be seen.
FAILS TO EXPLAIN LACK OF GOV'T RESPONSE
What the story never touches, however, is why there was no governmental response. It notes that authority to shoot down the plane would have to come from the President of the United States, who was unresponsive, but it, of course, does not mention why.
As with many of the Hollywood stories before it, Untied 93 presents ordinary people as would-be heroes. It does so with far less of the bang that often accompanies these stories. However, as America continues to go over its 9/11 wound, United 93 finds an emotional potency that most other tales would have to work so much harder to find.
Since September 11, 2001, Americans have sought to regain their sense of security and retain their role as the world's heroes. United 93 helps to bring them that, as it shows bravery in a time of desperation, when those who should rescue them seemed ill-prepared and their President was slow in his response to the crisis.
So there are, of course, no attempts to shade in the hijackers. With the exception of one, they are all coloured in anxious desperation. But this is not their story.
They are, after all, just terrorists.
