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United 93

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Went and saw United 93 on Saturday.

There’s no doubt that the film is technically proficient and well paced. What surprised me, especially given my reaction to the preview, was how little emotional impact I felt. I found the preview extremely uncomfortable both of the times that I saw it, and expected a similar level of discomfort in at least parts of the film itself. Aside from a few moments, however, (the second plane hitting the tower, for example) I didn’t really become emotionally engaged. I suspect that there is simply no way to recapture September 11 in an emotional sense, no matter how well made a film is. That, or perhaps a recreation is not the appropriate vehicle for producing an emotional reaction.

Nevertheless, the film is quite well made. The only part that I found even mildly exploitative was the decision to put a quasi-pacifist speech into the mouth of a passenger with what sounded like a Scandinavian accent. Greengrass did a phenomenonal job of portraying the wholesale chaos that afflicted both civilian and military authorities on the morning on September 11, although, partially because of his decision to use the real personnell, he probably had them come off a bit better than they actually performed. Those sections alone would make the film worthy of a class showing, to demonstrate how poorly organizations react to unexpected stimuli. The decision on the part of the passengers to seize the plane was made in a shorter time frame than I had imagined. I had no particular reason to think that it would have taken longer, other than that it felt like such a decision would take a little bit longer to make and execute.

The oddest part of the film was that the deepest catharsis I felt towards any character was with the chief terrorist. He is portrayed as reluctant (more through a failure of nerve than through concern with the justice of his mission) to seize the aircraft, and I felt like saying to him “Dude, you really DO have to make your move now”. It’s not quite right to say that the portrayal evoked sympathy, but it certainly evoked empathy.

I haven’t quite decided what I think of the film’s relatively lackluster box office. On the one hand, I have some shameful joy that wingnut predictions about the film, particularly that it would reinvigorate America’s enthusiasm for the War on Terror, appear to be just about as accurate as every other wingnut prediction. Moreover, given the Rotten Tomato score (93% fresh, 8.3 average) and the Metacritic score (90) it can hardly be claimed that the lefty entertainment elite has shunned the film. Certainly, the performance of the film further puts to bed the notion that the American filmgoing public is crying out for movies that portray true American heroism. On the other hand, it’s a solid enough film, certainly better than most of its competitors (I’m looking at you, MI:3), and I hate to wish box office difficulties on a worthy effort at tackling an enormously difficult subject.

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