After viewing the movie United 93 I am reminded how much influence art and images can have on people and their beliefs. There is something about images and re-enactments that can frame a story in a much more powerful way than words. Seeing the events acted out was enlightening. Even though I knew the outcome of the day, I still felt nervous. I was still on the edge of my seat as I watched the hijackers go through airport security. I still felt sick to my stomach as they politely said “no thank you” to the stewardess when she asked if they needed anything to drink. Being put into the cabin of United 93 it made me angry all over again. It made me upset that throughout the attack the terrorists were screaming the name of Allah. I am angry that they are using God’s name in vain. We have spoken in class how the hijackers were extremists in their faith. In my mind though I always envisioned the main motivation for the men to hijack and take over the planes was their hate for Western culture, specifically America. To see the hijackers praying the whole time on the plane and offering up their kills to God was eye opening. In a way it made the attacks scarier for me. Without realizing it I always rationalized the attacks with hate. But in the movie it’s clear that the attacks came from reverence and in a sick way love for God. This is what frightens me, the belief that God would want people to kill. That sounds naïve and juvenile but it’s the truth. Those men believed they were doing the right thing, the only thing that God wanted to them to do. What is also frightening is the realization that “their” God is the same as my “God” which in turn connects me to the terrorists through shared belief of religion. I am Catholic and the terrorists identified as Muslim, but I believe all religions worship the same God just in different ways. Through reverence of God and simply humanity we’re connected.
Other realizations that crystalized for me during the movie were the chaos and lack of communication that was going on between different agencies that morning. When we talk in class sometime I think we forget the attacks were 10 years ago and that technology in the communication aspect has improved. The movie did a nice job of emphasizing that not only were we unprepared for attacks like the plane hijackings, but we were immune to the idea of it. When the first hint of the hijacking was expressed there were laughs and rolled eyes. As Americans we were naïve to the gravity of the day.
The only criticism I have for the movie is that I wish it would have been more time lined. I would have liked to see the time when the first suspected hijacked plane was reported to air traffic controls. I think having a solid timeline like in the graphic novel would have made the movie more informational and given the audience a real understanding of how quickly everything was happening.
Did the movie make you look at the attacks or the emergency response differently too? If so, in what ways?
Personally, I thought that the movie was tastefully done. With an event such as the one that occurred on September 11, it can be difficult to capture the emotion and realness of the situation in a movie. As far as I'm concerned, the only thing that the rest of the country had as evidence of what went on during that short time on Flight 93, were telephone conversations between loved ones and conversations between the flight and air traffic controllers. With that being said I thought that it was extremely interesting to watch the movie and get an idea of what it must have been like to be present on the flight and the wide range of emotions that must have been racing through all of the passengers. It is something that one could never prepare for.
ReplyDeleteHowever, much like some of the poems that we looked at, including "Falling Man," there has to be some artistic creativity. Because there were no survivors of the flight, we have no eyewitnesses to the events. Much like the falling man, we cannot be certain of the emotions and feelings that were being felt nor can we be one hundred percent certain of what transpired on the plane. While I don't think that this is necessarily a bad thing, I think that it creates some minor problems. After reading some about the film, one such problem arose with a German passenger Christian Adams and his surviving family. In the film, he is portrayed as the only flight member to counsel appeasement. However, Adams' widow, Silke, is believed to have still been too shook up to cooperate with the filming of this movie and says that "there is no evidence to suggest that Christian did not support the other passengers, or that he refused to storm the cockpit."
Overall, I would say that this might be my only criticism of the film. However, with most art there needs to be some artistic license and with this film I think they didn't go overboard with it and stuck close to the facts that they possessed.
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ReplyDeleteI agree that although I knew the outcome of the movie, I was still anxious throughout the entire movie. Like any other movie it frustrated me that the lines of communication were awful and they had to keep waiting for the President's approval to fire on the hijacked planes. That was one of the hardest parts about watching the movie, knowing the outcome and watching all the different organizations not knowing what actions to take. The movie did help me realize however, that I grew up in the generation where when you board a plane the idea of a hi-jacker on board isn't such a crazy idea. Before the attacks, you realize that it wasn't something people thought about.
ReplyDeleteAs you mentioned about when the stewardess asked if he'd like any refreshments, that's where one of the faults throughout the movie lies. Obviously I wasn't in the airport or on the airplane however, I do feel like they portrayed the hijackers to look so suspicious. After knowing the selection process and training these individuals went through, I have a hard time believing they acted as suspicious as the movie shows. I did like how they humanized the terrorists though. They showed the man in the glasses saying his last "I love you's", and they showed him being nervous. That's something important for the audience to see because like you said, many people view the terrorists as acting simply out of hate and the thought of killing yourself and others seems insane. These were real people too and although I personally don't agree with their actions, they felt it was their duty to God.
Well my first comment somehow got messed up so I guess I'll try this again.
ReplyDeleteI watched United 93 also. I agree with John's comments about technology. While watching the movie, I frequently thought back to the Crisis Mapping class I took last semester. We spent a lot of time looking at the power of Twitter. Recently lots of news has been spread quickly through Twitter, like the death of Osama bin Laden. I also had forgotten about plane phones. It was weird to look back to a time when not everyone had a personal cell phone.
I also agree with the comment that a more direct timeline would have been helpful, like in the Graphic Novel.
The guy who was in charge I believe at the FAA was portrayed in a good light. The scene where he decides to ground all flights nationwide and also when he decides to not let any flights into the country are easily seen as heroic.
My main criticism of the film is the portrayal of the German, Adams. I think my feelings towards that are stronger than Will's comments. The character made me incredibly uncomfortable, even more so when I read in the Atlantic Review that there was no factual support for the interpretation. I think that inaccurate portrayal discredits the movie.
Since we were assigned to watch this movie, I thought I would just look for more information on United flight 93 in general. It's not entirely related to these posts, but I felt like this was the best place to put what I came across. The link below takes you flight93crash.com, which contains a fairly good amount of interesting information about the crash including audio between Cleveland air-traffic control and United 93. Other items include eye-witness accounts of the crash etc. To find the audio go to/click on "links" and it is the third one from the top.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.flight93crash.com/flight93_links.html
Looks like the url I posted goes straight to the page with the audio link on it. I also just figured I'd add that the audio includes the hijackers telling air-traffic control that there was a bomb on board.
ReplyDeleteAfter watching the movie for the first time and then youtubing some of the family phone calls, and following links that others have posted with the recordings from the plane, I'm stunned. To be honest, I was losing perspective for a while. I thought, "Yes, 911 was a tragedy for us, but other countries have genocides and mass terrorist attacks, and women are raped, and children are murdered and that's part of their every day lives now. They don't get to have a class on it. They don't get to dwell on ten years ago." But after watching that movie, those Americans had to experience real terror. I couldn't help but cry when watching the ending of United 93, I'll admit it. Because what would I do in that situation? How could I not rush them and bludgeon them to death with a fire extinguisher, how could I not pry the knife from his hands, slippery with blood? I don't say things like this often, because it's a very private thing, but being a cadet means a lot to me. And watching that movie and hearing those voices I remembered what all the sacrifice is for. It's not just for the men on the plane. I believe in this country and defending it, no matter what. And the actions of those people on that plane were so brave, so terribly courageous, I'm very proud to be able to remember them and fight for them.
ReplyDeleteI don't think the movie was a publicity stunt, I don't think it exploited the event to make money. I think this is one of those American things that you don't mess with in that way, and everyone knows it. This movie was made because it had to be made. In the same way that Passion of the Christ had to be made. People needed to see it, I needed to see it, and I think it perfectly and delicately displays the rawness of that day. It captures the anger and the fear and, without any politics or response, simply what happened to those people and to our country. It was very well done, I'm glad it was made.
I'm not sure if I've ever watched a movie that was so emotionally jarring. I sat, teary eyed, mouth ajar, for a good 5 minutes after the movie ended. The takeover scene was so well done that I felt as if I was there. When the movie ended, I felt the same way as I do when I wake up in the middle of the night from a bad dream, except this time the nightmare was not fictional.
ReplyDeleteWhen I started the movie, I was expecting some cheesy Hollywood depiction of the events that unfolded, much like World Trade Center with Nicholas Cage. I was completely wrong in my assumptions. I can't imagine how difficult it would be to make a movie depicting an event to which everyone already knows the plot. United 93 captured the chaotic events of September 11th with a surprising amount of realism. I had originally put the movie on and was watching it while packing for a Spring Break service trip, but once the highjackings started to unfold, I had to sit down because I was so emotionally invested. One of the things that you rarely find in movies like this, and in most movies, is believable acting. I felt the uncertainty and fear of the actors in this movie unlike any other movie I've seen. From the helplessness of the flight attendants to the anger of the military commanders trying to get clearances, I was there. United 93 was a very useful tool for me to understand the chaos that occurred behind the scenes. The confusion of this movie that leave some asking for a timeline is what made this movie so real for me. September 11th, 2001 was the definition of confusion.
When it comes to the story of 9/11, everybody knows the horrific ending, most know the beginning, but few know the middle in its entirety. United 93 took that relatively unknown middle, and made a detailed movie about it.