United 93

It's a mark of great direction when an audience sits through a film transfixed, even though they know the story all too well. Paul Greengrass' United 93 relives an almost universally experienced act of violence, and itself ruptures the boundary between voyeur and victim — a profoundly empathetic act. We who watched September 11 unfold from a distance are wrenched out of our armchairs and strapped, cinematically, into the seats filled by its protagonists. In real time — without 'name' actors to hold our hands, without grandstanding, cartoon dialogue, and flattering camera angles — we see the event clearly for what it is: not some kind of 'statement', but a mass slaughter of innocents, simple and unadorned.

United 93 was widely and deservedly praised during its theatrical run. But now that awards time is rolling around, it's been passed over for confectionery like Dreamgirls and Little Miss Sunshine. Greengrass' film is compelling, but not always palatable. It's been objected, too, that shouldn't we have been told something about the why of September 11? In fact, Greengrass is astute enough to know that no amount of backstory is going to change our preconceptions. Instead he focuses on the event itself, aiming to show us both what actually happened, and what might have. In the opening shots of the hijackers in their hotel, little is spoken but a great deal is said; the quiet act of reading a book becomes one of the most frightening things in the world. It's an important film, and here's hoping that its achievement won't be overlooked.

Comments

[gus]

alternatively it could be said that hollywood backed the film in the short term interest of cashing in on the five year anniversary of the september 11 attacks....the reason theen that the film was overlooked is not that the story is compelling but rather that it is merely exploitive.

[Blogfisher]

What also might be of interest to you is the pilot episode for the post X-Files series called the "Lone Gunmen" that foreshadows the events of 911 very closely.

http://www.plaguepuppy.net/public_html/Lone%20Gunmen/The_Lone_Gunmen_Episode_1.htm

So what you have here is the TV show before, the actual event, and with United 93, the movie after.

Such theatrical wag-the-dog magic is only possible in unreal landscape of todays twisted ethos.

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Keep posting.

[UGG Suede]

I like to the town.I live in a crowded town.This park is (the safest) park in our town.Born in this beautiful town, he hates to leave it.