United 93 Review (Sunday Business Post)

United 93
Dir: Paul Greengrass
Cert: Unavailable
Review: Jonathan McCrea

‘Too soon?’ director Paul Greengrass reflects when asked about the timing of United 93, the film that recounts the events that occurred on the last of the hijacked planes on September 11th, 2001. ‘When people say a film like this is too soon, they mean too soon for them, not for the people who were really touched by this tragedy. When something like this happens, we feel bad for a few days, we make a donation and then we just want it to go away so we can get back to our holidays and our football. It’s important for the families [of the victims], to record what happened, to ask questions, to make it real’.
True to his word, Greengrass (Bloody Sunday, Omagh) has gone to commendable lengths to ensure an accurate portrayal of what happened on Flight United 93 which left Newark for San Francisco at 9.10 am that morning, never to reach it’s destination. From black box recordings, distress call transcripts and an exhaustive number of interviews with staff, experts, friends and family of all involved, the director left no stone unturned in his goal to present a ‘plausible truth’ to the world.
His film is reminiscient in style of Gus Van Sant’s award-winning Elephant, which told the story of a Columbine-like tragedy in which two students go on a killing spree in their local school. The first forty minutes calmly document the scenes at the FAA (Federal Aviation Administration), the NEADS (Northeast Air Defence Sector) and on the plane. We meet Ben Sliney (who plays himself in the film) on his first day of work as head of the FAA, being welcomed by his staff. On the plane, the simple banalities of air travel are replayed as beneath them air traffic controllers joke amongst themselves. In his matter-of-fact way, Greengrass reminds the audience of how completely unprecedented the attacks that followed were.
When news of the World Trade Center attacks reach the depearately unprepared offices of the aviation bodies, the film captures a mix of panic and confusion that will have an air of familiarity to those who followed the events on television in 2001. Minutes later, four men would forcibly take control of another aircraft, United Airways flight 93. Through a series of phone calls to the outside world, the passengers will eventually realise that the terrorists are on a suicide mission.
Despite the obvious potential for drama, Surrey-born Greengrass has wisely kept well clear of sentimentalism in United 93. Using a mountain of research, a handful of unknown actors and a few key pieces of dialogue he let improvisation do the rest. He could hardly have made the film any other way; a swelling crescendo here or a heroic soliloquay there would have trivialised the tragedy. Even passenger Todd Beamer’s infamous signal to rush the cabin ‘Let’s roll’, is delivered understated, rather than as a battlecry.
The cast themselves absorbed masses of information on the real-life characters they were to play. Personal visits, pictures, phone calls and letters to family members were common; the actors were only too aware of the weight of responsibility on their shoulders.
The result of all this fastidious attention to detail and careful detachment is ultimately a rather strange animal, five parts documentary to one part fiction. Whether one can really ‘enjoy’ United 93 is uncertain, but one thing is without a doubt: the film brings the world at large as close to knowing what went on in that plane as it will ever get. Recommended viewing. ***