United 93 (2006)
November 28, 2022 1:53 PM - Subscribe
[TRAILER] A real-time account of the events on United Flight 93, one of the planes hijacked on 9/11 that crashed near Shanksville, Pennsylvania when passengers foiled the terrorist plot.
Starring Trieste Kelly Dunn, Starla Benford, Kate Jennings Grant, J.J. Johnson, Polly Adams, Trish Gates, Olivia Thirlby.
Written and directed by Paul Greengrass.
90% fresh on Rotten Tomatoes.
Currently available for digital rental on multiple outlets. JustWatch listing.
Today, I'm going to post six movies that are problematic and/or made by/starring problematic people, but also either: have merit/are acclaimed; won some awards; are very popular; have a certain amount of cultural cachet. I'll be tagging these #problematicmovies.
This film is, by the vast majority of accounts, quite well-made. But people who lived through 9/11 often rate their willingness to watch this film somewhere between "ask me again in 2051" and "no fucking way unh unh nope."
Starring Trieste Kelly Dunn, Starla Benford, Kate Jennings Grant, J.J. Johnson, Polly Adams, Trish Gates, Olivia Thirlby.
Written and directed by Paul Greengrass.
90% fresh on Rotten Tomatoes.
Currently available for digital rental on multiple outlets. JustWatch listing.
Today, I'm going to post six movies that are problematic and/or made by/starring problematic people, but also either: have merit/are acclaimed; won some awards; are very popular; have a certain amount of cultural cachet. I'll be tagging these #problematicmovies.
This film is, by the vast majority of accounts, quite well-made. But people who lived through 9/11 often rate their willingness to watch this film somewhere between "ask me again in 2051" and "no fucking way unh unh nope."
This is on my blog movie list and I am NOT looking forward to it. (Fortunately I am watching the films in chronological order, and I'm still back in the 1960s so I got time.)
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 5:06 PM on November 28, 2022 [1 favorite]
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 5:06 PM on November 28, 2022 [1 favorite]
Last winter I was on a solo road trip and took the small highway through Pennsylvania and happened to pass by the Flight 93 memorial, so I stopped. As a memorial it’s really lovely, a very tall structure with haunting-sounding windchimes.
There was a sign that said the visitor’s center etc was a few miles away off the road and I confess I did not fully experience the whole thing, but I was surprised to be impressed by what I saw. It was a cold, gray February day with enough wind to move the chimes and I was there all alone, so that did probably add to the ambience.
posted by jeweled accumulation at 5:35 PM on November 28, 2022 [2 favorites]
There was a sign that said the visitor’s center etc was a few miles away off the road and I confess I did not fully experience the whole thing, but I was surprised to be impressed by what I saw. It was a cold, gray February day with enough wind to move the chimes and I was there all alone, so that did probably add to the ambience.
posted by jeweled accumulation at 5:35 PM on November 28, 2022 [2 favorites]
very matter-of-fact presentation, which adds to the growing dread, as we know where it ends up. well crafted. solid B.
posted by j_curiouser at 7:08 AM on November 29, 2022 [1 favorite]
posted by j_curiouser at 7:08 AM on November 29, 2022 [1 favorite]
I've never seen this. Not sure when I will, if ever.
posted by DirtyOldTown at 8:00 AM on November 29, 2022
posted by DirtyOldTown at 8:00 AM on November 29, 2022
Really well-crafted movie, but one of the things that sticks with me years after seeing it was the ugliness of making the German passenger an appeasing coward to contrast with the brave American action-heroes, with no basis in reality (link).
posted by chimpsonfilm at 8:40 AM on November 29, 2022 [1 favorite]
posted by chimpsonfilm at 8:40 AM on November 29, 2022 [1 favorite]
An interesting tangential note about people's willingness to watch:
But people who lived through 9/11 often rate their willingness to watch this film somewhere between "ask me again in 2051" and "no fucking way unh unh nope."
Back in like 2003 or 2004, when I was still doing theater, one of my companies did a staged reading of a play set in that week immediately after 9/11, dealing with a family from New Jersey. "Coping with 9/11" was part of the plot, but the playwright had worked in other people dealing with other losses - someone was dealing with a miscarriage, someone else's friend had killed themselves a couple months prior, etc. During the post-show discussion, the reactions seemed to fall into two very distinct camps:
A - "I liked how coping with 9/11 was compared with coping with other different kinds of loss."
vs.
B - "I get that trying to compare 9/11 with other losses was what you were going for, but I think 9/11 was just too big a deal and it overshadowed the other stuff."
Both were valid points, and there was a lively debate between Camp A and Camp B that went on for a while. Then I realized something, and asked for a show of hands; "Okay, if you were actually living here in New York City on 9/11, can you raise your hand, please?"
And as I suspected: Camp B were all the people who lived in New York City and saw the real thing first hand. I suspected that might be the case since I found myself siding with Camp B hard at first.
This was in the early Aughts, though. It's been just over 20 years since then, and it'll be another couple years before I watch this; and I have to admit, as much as I'm not looking forward to seeing this, I'm also curious to know what my reaction is going to be. My exposure was more that of an Average Yutz New Yorker Coping With The Fallout, so it's more things that reference the shrines outside fire stations or the "missing person" posters wallpapering the city that tend to get me more, and between that and more time passing I may do okay.
Not that I'm in any rush to find out, mind you.
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 9:59 AM on November 29, 2022
But people who lived through 9/11 often rate their willingness to watch this film somewhere between "ask me again in 2051" and "no fucking way unh unh nope."
Back in like 2003 or 2004, when I was still doing theater, one of my companies did a staged reading of a play set in that week immediately after 9/11, dealing with a family from New Jersey. "Coping with 9/11" was part of the plot, but the playwright had worked in other people dealing with other losses - someone was dealing with a miscarriage, someone else's friend had killed themselves a couple months prior, etc. During the post-show discussion, the reactions seemed to fall into two very distinct camps:
A - "I liked how coping with 9/11 was compared with coping with other different kinds of loss."
vs.
B - "I get that trying to compare 9/11 with other losses was what you were going for, but I think 9/11 was just too big a deal and it overshadowed the other stuff."
Both were valid points, and there was a lively debate between Camp A and Camp B that went on for a while. Then I realized something, and asked for a show of hands; "Okay, if you were actually living here in New York City on 9/11, can you raise your hand, please?"
And as I suspected: Camp B were all the people who lived in New York City and saw the real thing first hand. I suspected that might be the case since I found myself siding with Camp B hard at first.
This was in the early Aughts, though. It's been just over 20 years since then, and it'll be another couple years before I watch this; and I have to admit, as much as I'm not looking forward to seeing this, I'm also curious to know what my reaction is going to be. My exposure was more that of an Average Yutz New Yorker Coping With The Fallout, so it's more things that reference the shrines outside fire stations or the "missing person" posters wallpapering the city that tend to get me more, and between that and more time passing I may do okay.
Not that I'm in any rush to find out, mind you.
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 9:59 AM on November 29, 2022
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posted by Atreides at 2:26 PM on November 28, 2022