United 93

I saw United 93 by myself last night (Mike and Cherie wisely abstained). It was a good movie, but, obviously, disturbing. I think the writers/directors purposefully (and smartly) played it straight, sticking to the facts without trying to make some stupid political point. I also thought the filmmakers did an admirable job of not overtly demonizing the terrorists (their actions were sufficient to make that point) or overly-hype the heroic deeds of the passengers (ditto).

Naturally, there was a lot of drama, both in the aircraft and, kind of surprisingly, in the control towers and a military base where officials were trying to sort through the confusion of what was happening (e.g. once they realized an actual hijacking was taking place and deciphered Mohammed Attah's statement, "We have some planes," they realized there were 4,200 planes in the air).

My only complaint was that the movie didn't develop some of the passengers that played a central role in attempting to retake control of the airplane. Not that it was possible to make the characters any more sympathetic, but it would have helped a little cinematically to feel more connected to who these people were--that they weren't just passengers or victims. Perhaps the filmmakers didn't want to be exploitative. Or, maybe the whole point was to illustrate their commonality--that they were all just ordinary people.

But, I just think it's fascinating that, for example, two of the main leaders of the revolt were an evangelical Christian and a gay rugby player. I love that two guys from completely different worlds united to lead a rebellion against the terrorists. Another interesting, albeit minor, point that the movie could have highlighted was the fact that, once the passengers realized what was happening, one of the first things they did was vote to decide on their plan of attack. It would have been great to show the contrast between people who live in a civilized society and those who want to take everyone back to the 7th century (under their rule, of course).

The film did acheive one significant contrast. Toward the end of the film there was a scene juxtaposing the prayers of the terrorists and passengers--with the former praying for success in bringing maximum death and destruction, and the latter praying for life and salvation. A stark contrast and, I think, illustrative of the warring ideologies/theologies battling for supremacy today.

All in all, the film did a good job of portraying an awful event. Some say it was the first battle won by our side in the war on terror. Here's to hoping that the American left and most of the remainder of Western Civilization can overcome its tendency toward self-loathing and actually stand up for itself (side note: it was apropos that the one passenger in the film who kept trying to convince the others to appease the terrorists was a European. Go figure).