9/11. I still remember the day when “the world†supposedly changed. Hardly 20 days had passed since I had come to United States, and we were still getting used to the vagaries of a new land. I had just joined a Master’s Program, and being in the country for all of 20 days, all we had back then was a house to sleep in, utensils to cook and nothing else – no TV, no music system, not even beds. It required us to be at college every morning, early, if we had to have any chance of getting a system for us to spend time on internet.
9/11 was just another morning like that, when I strolled into the lab at around 9.30 am to find it unusually quiet, despite being full. I was able to find an open computer and was logging in, when a friend of mine hollered “Dude – check that out; Two planes crashed into World Trade Center!†My first reaction to his statement was a laugh, and I almost blurted out that we could be in for a holiday. However a second later, seeing all the serious faces around me (Americans), all looking at the same news on the internet, I realized maybe I did not portray the right reaction to the incident.
The problem was I was a foreigner in an unknown land. I could not relate to the incidents as personally as Americans would. They were not my people, they were not my countrymen, and being fresh in the country, and its sensitivities had not struck me back then. I could probably (and I still do) relate more to the Jalianwala Bagh Massacare because it happened to my countrymen, even if it was nearly 100 years ago.
After 5 years I still feel I am a foreigner in this country, and I still cannot relate to many a thing affecting people in this country. Yesterday when I watched, United 93, perhaps this feeling helped me tremendously to watch the movie unfold from a distance rather than turning out to be a personal experience. I think a British director at the helm also helped the movie stay in perspective as he could afford to cut out the emotions from within and film the movie.
At the end of it, I have to say: United 93 is a gut wrenching mind numbing experience, and equally disturbing.
United 93
In what must be a first in all the years I have visited movie halls in this country, the movie began without any previews or trailers of upcoming movies. I don’t know if it was intentional or not, but I think it helped set the mood. As the film opens with split shots of terrorists reading the Koran and getting ready with their bombs, I couldn’t help but notice that this particular scene was in its elements pretty derogatory towards the Koran, though I don’t think the filmmaker wanted to represent a religion in that light – and even if he did, he was justified to present his view as he saw it. After all, the subject of the movie demanded honestly, not political correctness.
Much has been said and talked about United 93 and its passenger’s heroic efforts combined with sloppiness of terrorists that led to the eventual crash in Philadelphia, much farther from its target of Capitol, and I think its pretty much senseless to re-iterate all of it here. The movie faithfully tries to recreate the journey of that doomed plane, right from the take off to its eventual end. And much of it is shot in real time.
Paul Greengrass understands that merely showing the inboard drama of 40 minutes of United 93 would not only wear down the viewer, but also fail to show the circle of events of the day and perhaps dilute the impact. The movie shifts between events happening on ground and in air, which help build up the tension tremendously. Once flight 93 is airborne, the movie is practically real-time minute by minute account of the flight. More than half of the movie happens on the ground, in different air traffic control centers across Virginia, Boston, Air force base, and Cleveland Air Traffic control centers, where as the movie progresses one cant help but see the considerable tension and chaos building up in the offices and in the plane.
By the time the ground air controllers warn the pilots of United 93 about possible cockpit intrusion its almost too late – 2 minutes after the warning, United 93 was hijacked by 4 terrorists – after the initial hysteria and panic, the passengers of the plane chose to do something about the situation and regain control of the plane, all leading to a cataclysmic crash, of which almost everyone on the plane was sure of.
Without a doubt in my mind, it is the last 15 minutes of the movie which are absolutely mind numbing and disturbing – the chaos, the struggle to break open the cockpit door, the terrorists realizing that they had failed – almost everything that leads to final few moments to the movie and United 93 speeding towards ground make it too much to bear and see.
Technicalities
By casting a cast of absolute unknowns, Paul Greengrass is able to achieve a great degree of authenticity of the passengers. None of the faces that we see are well known, making it all the more believable. A sizeable portion of the cast played themselves, including Ben Sliney (head, Air Traffic Control, Herndon VA), people in the Air Traffic control centers in New Ark, Boston and the Air defense center. Everyone on the ground turns out a splendid performance as do the people in the air.
Paul Greengrass follows his direction style straight out of The Bourne Supremacy – the unsteady camera and attention to detail. Like the former movie, he’s able to work with his material and build up tension and set up the mood, without wasting any time. That this is an extremely well directed movie would be an understatement perhaps.
Much of what happened on flight United 93 is speculation, gathered from the various calls that the passengers made from the plane and the black box derived from the plane. Indeed, with that much speculation, Paul Greengrass had every opportunity to turn this movie into a pseudo patriotic movie with valiant dialogues and jingoistic acts – fortunately he does NOT, and in the process captures the people in the plane as they were. Not heroes – not valiant soldiers – just ordinary people who decided that they would do something to save themselves. Why even the much famous words “Lets Roll†by one of the passengers is not emphasized in the movie, and is almost lost in the chaos.
The final few minutes, though are what I would call masterpiece cinema. It couldn’t have been captured better than this.
Overall
As the movie ended, we were struck by the silence in the hall. Not one of the people in the hall was speaking – all of them left the hall quietly, and those who were talking were talking in hushed murmurs. As a foreigner with not much connection and personal relation to the incidents, I was left shocked and disturbed; I could have imagined the emotions that may have run through the people who related to the incidents. To be fair, I was pretty much disturbed for the rest of the night.
Whether this movie needed to be made or not, I am not going to debate on it; but if someone were to ask me if this was a fitting tribute to the passengers of United 93, then I would without a doubt say: it is.
Please watch this movie.