Posted on 05/07/2006 10:53:29 AM PDT by Ramius
Somebody has bought tickets to “United 93.” The movie about heroism about the doomed Sept. 11 flight grossed $11.6 million in sales and finished second place (to “RV”) when it debuted last weekend.
Directed and written by Paul Greengrass, the docudrama has gotten spectacular critical reviews. But those same reviews tell you why “United 93” poses no box office threat to “Mission: Impossible III.” Roger Ebert of The Chicago Sun-Times, for example, called it “masterful and heartbreaking” – but also “deeply disturbing.” Gary Thompson of the Philadelphia Daily News described it as “taut, clinical, almost merciless.”
Audience reaction has been somber, especially in areas directly affected by the Sept. 11 terror attacks. No one expected otherwise.
Weeping has been frequently reported during showings. One New Yorker described “United 93” to the New York Daily News as “just very disturbing.” Her husband said, “I guess it’s a form of shock.” One Long Island woman told Newsday: “During the movie, I heard a lot of sobbing, and when it ended, there was just silence. Almost everyone left with their hands crossed in front of them and their heads bowed down as if it were a wake or funeral.”
For the most part, Americans – including members of this newspaper’s editorial board – haven’t been able to bring themselves to watch a movie that vividly recreates so much of the horror and pathos of Sept. 11. It’s just hard to buy a ticket and board Flight 93 knowing beforehand how the tragedy will end and how skillfully and heartbreakingly Greengrass has no doubt rendered it.
This says something about drama’s almost mystical power over the human psyche. For some elusive reason, a well-told story can be unbearably, painfully, excruciatingly real.
It also says the wounds ripped open in this country by Sept. 11 are a long, long way from being healed. It is too easy to imagine ourselves or our loved ones caught by chance, not so long ago, on one of those doomed flights, in one of the twin towers or in the west side of the Pentagon. Part of the horrifying brilliance of “United 93,” according to reviewers, lies in the very ordinariness of its characters.
When the trauma of that day is further behind us, more Americans will probably embrace this film. But not yet. Not yet.
It is too easy to imagine ourselves or our loved ones caught by chance, not so long ago, on one of those doomed flights, in one of the twin towers or in the west side of the Pentagon.
See, liberals are in denial, they just cannot bring themselves to recognize that it wasn't "CHANCE" that killed
all those AMERICANS, it was a brutal alien mindset that saw
them as vermin. THAT is what we face!
The film was masterfully done. I knew one major figure in the movie was portrayed by himself but was surprised as to the number of other actors portraying themselves. It no doubt provided more fact than fiction as to what actually happened that day.
You said a few things that are really important: "... it is not about grief. It is about courage". And .. we are "fortunate then that it was some other group"" (and not us).. we are more than fortunate that it was this group who found the courage to keep the airplane from the capital bldg. And finally .. "I came out of the movie, not grieving -- but proud and angry" I'm sure that's the way I'm going to feel too.
2.the people who fight back are white males, not women, not minorities
3.govt fails on every level
4.a euro wennie on UA 93 wants to negotiate with the hijackers
I think Osama Bin Laden will love this movie because the director did not take sides:
1) Toward the end, the movie switched between the Christian prayers of the victims and the Islamic prayers of the terrorists, equating the two.
2) They didn't show the passengers voting - all discussions were fearful and desperate. The flight attendants got all the weapons.
3) The military and President Bush fail - over and over again. Bush can't be found.
4) There were conflicting opinions on the plane which we know because they needed to vote.
I think people are not going because word of mouth says it's not that good. After the viewing I attended, a young person in the front jumped up and said, "That's stupid", and walked out.
Dumb left-coasties. They seem to forget that this "drama" actually happened. But if it didn't happen to them personally, I guess that means it doesn't count. Or maybe they consider it never to have happened since it didn't happen to them personally?
Yes, isn't it amazing that 2006 is "too soon" for United 93, but 2004 wasn't "too soon" for Fahrenheit 911?
I agree with you. I'm not sure why so many are blinded to the utter neutrality from this rendition of events.
For those of you who haven't seen it yet, keep your eyes on the oversees box-office.
Hollywood has not done us any favors.
"") Toward the end, the movie switched between the Christian prayers of the victims and the Islamic prayers of the terrorists, equating the two."""
if you think the two were being equated, youre insane
""They didn't show the passengers voting - all discussions were fearful and desperate. The flight attendants got all the weapons.""
As they should ahve been...the FAs got the weapons because they were told to by white male passengers adn becasue he FAs would know where items are stocked in the galley
"The military and President Bush fail - over and over again. Bush can't be found."
what is untrue about that?
""There were conflicting opinions on the plane which we know because they needed to vote.""
Is this untrue
"I think people are not going because word of mouth says it's not that good"
people are going and most word of mouth says its good and should be seen
"After the viewing I attended, a young person in the front jumped up and said, "That's stupid", and walked out."
boy that a real compelling addition to your already weak argument
How do you think Osama will like it?
i dont care if he likes it or not....if thats all you could think of while watching the movie "what will osama think" you completely missed the point of the movie and its message. God wasted his time when he created you
if you think the two were being equated, youre insane
if you don't think the director was equating both prayers, you're gullible.
he clearly wasnt....it was a reenactment of what was actually occurring..interstingly none of the families have made your ridiculous asssertion.
youre one of those conservatives who is constantly looking for outrage
no where in the movie is there moral or cultural relativism
This statement is flawed.
anyone who use as an example the short comings of UA 93:
A young person in the front row stood up and yelled "that's stupid" and walked out
as an example to reinforce their argument is wasting my time
Yet they all waited in line for Fahrenheit 9/11.
Are you God?
. Gee. Guess you can't say that about any of the other gems Hollyweird puts out these days....
How did the movie imply that the terrorists' actions were anything other than evil? True, the movie didn't use sinister music and camera angles to cast the villians in an evil light, but that's because there was no need to--their actions spoke for themselves.
Near the end, however, I think the producers clearly did show a good versus evil battle brewing when the passengers started praying in English and the terrorists in Arabic.
Anyone who could watch that film without being able to figure out who the good and evil people were has some pretty severe problems.
bttt
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