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United 93 is the first major film on 9/11 to be made for movie theaters. The subject matter is one of such emotional content that moviegoers may steel themselves and reach for imaginary seat belts before the film begins. This is 9/11 on the screen and done in real time.  The journey of Flight 93 lasted about 50 minutes and the film is double that. Part of the film shows the terrorists getting ready for their “job,” and part of the film is centered on what was happening in the New York City control tower. Director/scriptwriter Paul Greengrass (“Bloody Sunday”) has really pulled it together with minimal dialogue and fast-paced camera work.

The audience sees the four terrorists getting up in the morning, saying their prayers, ritually shaving themselves and getting ready for the flight. At the same time, the flight crew is boarding the plane, and the air controllers are getting ready for a routine day. Only the audience feels the tension, because they know this is not a routine day and that the people heading for the airplane are never coming home again.

Baggage checking is routine and when you see a grandmother knitting on the plane, you know that after this day, knitting needles will be considered a possible weapon. The flight begins and then there are alarming events in the control tower. First one, and then another plane are possibly hijacked and then disappear. Did they crash? Or are they under the radar. The traffic controllers get their news from CNN as first one and then another plane crashes into the World Trade Center. Too large a hole for a small, one-seater plane, these must be the missing airliners. Military men are confused and caught off-guard. Where to send their planes?

In the meantime, Flight 93 is encountering difficulties as the terrorists begin their work. They take care of the crew and enter the cockpit. One of the group can barely fly the plane while the others stab passengers. A fourth has a bomb strapped to him. The passengers aren’t overly concerned at this point as they think it is a hijacking and they will simply land at another destination. It’s when news begins to trickle in via cell phones that Flight 93 passengers learn they may be at war and New York City could be under attack. What is their plane’s role in this?

Hand-held camera work brings the inside of the plane to the audience. You feel yourself pitching and rolling with the plane as the terrorists a) try to fly the plane, and b) try to control the passengers who are getting increasingly restless to the point of going to the back of the plane.  The strongest men are the ones leading the group because at this time, brute strength is all they have as a weapon.

No one actually knows what happened on board Flight 93 on 9/11. The screenplay for that part of the film was put together from cell phone records and guess work. No name actors were used in the film so that you can concentrate on the story. Everything happened so fast that I couldn’t pick out individuals who lead the charge for the cockpit. Not only was it frightening in the short time of this particular flight, but also that the military had two planes to send out and neither of them was armed. If they were to divert Flight 93, how would they have done it? Ram the airliner? Plus, military personnel couldn’t locate anyone to give the command. So, in the end, the individual, the one who casts a single ballot and thinks their voice would not be heard, in the end, the individual is the hero. Think twice, terrorists.

Copyright 2006 Marie Asner
Submitted 4/26/06