Well, I saw it tonight, and I'm glad I did. It's gut-wrenching, powerful... You really want things to end differently, but you know, of course, that they won't. Still, I have a renewed appreciation for the passengers who rebelled. Nice job on the part of the director, the actors, and the re-enactors (men and women who played themselves).
Hey, Raf, I was hoping you would see this quickly so I could read your review. This movie made the front page headlines earlier this week with the directive: Go see this movie. The newspaper predicted that it will bring closure, healing, and lots of other good things. So I think I will, as long as it isn't the sort of thing that will haunt me for weeks to come. If it's sad, I can take it. I'll bring a box of tissues. But I don't like "disturbing."
I don't think there's one word that can capture it.
I don't want to say "Go see this movie," although on quality alone it deserves it. If I were a movie reviewer, I'd say "go see this movie," because their job is to recommend well-made, well-acted films.
I don't know if it brings closure or healings. It does make you enormously proud of the passengers of flight 93. But at the same time, the unmitigated hatred it brings out for the hijackers easily spills over to a hatred of Islam (particularly in one scene: let me know if you spot it).
The more I think of it...
Bring tissues. Confront your discomfort. Go see this movie.
From everything I hear, it is an excellent film, as accurate as possible, and not exploitive in any way.
No way am I going to see it.
I see no reason to put myself through the agony. I know there is nothing that is going to stop that plane from crashing, and choose to not subject myself to the experience.
well... I probably won't see it... I don't think it's a good idea for a movie (entertainment)... I'll watch stuff on the history channel or dicovery channel to learn... but I don't think I'm going to feel like going to a "movie" about this... JMO
I'm getting tempted... one of the local reviewers here (whose opinion I generally trust) said it was an "amazing movie" and "one of the best movies ever, that you don't want to see"...
I'm being swayed by that, hearing comments like Raf made from others as well as having read the article where they were describing the reactions of the families of the folks on that flight after they'd seen the movie...
'United 93' makes emotional debut
Some say it's too soon; others see 9/11 account as a chance to heal
04:20 PM CDT on Friday, April 28, 2006
By CHRIS VOGNAR / The Dallas Morning News
NEW YORK – The sobs and wails came from the balcony and echoed through the theater as soon as the screen faded to black: loud, uncontrollable, heart-rending, the kinds of sounds you hear at the scene of a tragedy.
United 93, the first major movie to deal directly with the events of 9/11, had just premiered in the city hit hardest by the attacks.
But the wails were soon replaced with a thunderous applause cascading down from the same area of the theater, vigorous and cathartic.
Both responses came from the passenger and crew family members perched in the balcony of the Ziegfeld Theatre on Tuesday night. Their loved ones died that clear September day when a group of passengers led a revolt against their hijackers and crashed the plane into a field outside Shanksville, Pa.
I wanted to applaud, but was too drained to do it. No one in my audience applauded (at least not audibly: I applauded silently). There were many, many tears. I shed a few, but "sobbing" would not be an accurate description for me.
well.. they were the relatives of the folks on the plane... ti sure has gotten great write ups all of them always pointing out that the movie is not 'exploitive' in any way...
so they really used the real people that were on the ground did they? and I hear they also used a lot of 'no-name' folks so that viewers wouldn't identify them with other movies, etc.
It's a good movie. A very good movie. Maybe because I was prepared for utter agony -- I half expected an emotional breakdown that would cause me to be escorted out on a stretcher, in four-point restraints, hooked up to thousands of dollars worth of medical equipment -- the worst didn't happen. I didn't even need my tissues, not that it wasn't sad, but there wasn't even the slightest hint of melodrama in the re-telling. At no point did I feel that I was being manipulated. Just given the facts, and the sequence of events. I liked it. It did more to allay my fears, rather than resurrect them, because it gave me a context to put it all in. The crew and passengers did what they had to do, and that was that. Kudos to all those air traffic controllers, who did what they could. Their responses were very human, but also professional.
The movie is well paced. I wish I had gotten to know the characters a little better, but because it was all happening in "real" time, the camera switched from person to person so quickly that the introductions were superficial. It had the effect of making me feel as if I was right there with them, in that group of strangers. I didn't know anything more about each person than what they knew of each other. A few of the passengers were true to their stereotypes, like that Dutch(?) guy who kept advising everyone to just do as they were told and everything would be okay. Not too long ago, I saw Paradise Now, and I felt that gave me a little background on the hijackers. Paradise Now humanized the suicide bombers. United 93 didn't offer commentary, which I think is to their credit.
No one applauded, though. In fact, the theater was quiet, maybe because the showing was at almost 10 p.m. on a Sunday night. About a dozen people showed up. Overall, a good movie, for those inclined to see it.
Raf, the only time I felt the beginnings of contempt for Islam was at the beginning, when they were doing their prayer ritual, with the ominous music in the background. After that, the motives of the hijackers were incomprehensible to me.
If those who are going to see it have seen it, let us know. I wouldn't mind talking about the reasons and the effect of how some of those scenes were directed, if it doesn't spoil the movie for those who haven't seen it yet.
Krys? Tom? Linda (go watch it)? Anyone else? We're waiting for you to check in.
Raf, have you or are you planning to read Guests of the Ayatollah? I got the book, but haven't started it yet.
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Raf
Well, I saw it tonight, and I'm glad I did. It's gut-wrenching, powerful... You really want things to end differently, but you know, of course, that they won't. Still, I have a renewed appreciation for the passengers who rebelled. Nice job on the part of the director, the actors, and the re-enactors (men and women who played themselves).
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laleo
Hey, Raf, I was hoping you would see this quickly so I could read your review. This movie made the front page headlines earlier this week with the directive: Go see this movie. The newspaper predicted that it will bring closure, healing, and lots of other good things. So I think I will, as long as it isn't the sort of thing that will haunt me for weeks to come. If it's sad, I can take it. I'll bring a box of tissues. But I don't like "disturbing."
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Raf
I don't think there's one word that can capture it.
I don't want to say "Go see this movie," although on quality alone it deserves it. If I were a movie reviewer, I'd say "go see this movie," because their job is to recommend well-made, well-acted films.
I don't know if it brings closure or healings. It does make you enormously proud of the passengers of flight 93. But at the same time, the unmitigated hatred it brings out for the hijackers easily spills over to a hatred of Islam (particularly in one scene: let me know if you spot it).
The more I think of it...
Bring tissues. Confront your discomfort. Go see this movie.
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hiway29
From everything I hear, it is an excellent film, as accurate as possible, and not exploitive in any way.
No way am I going to see it.
I see no reason to put myself through the agony. I know there is nothing that is going to stop that plane from crashing, and choose to not subject myself to the experience.
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Tom Strange
I'm getting tempted... one of the local reviewers here (whose opinion I generally trust) said it was an "amazing movie" and "one of the best movies ever, that you don't want to see"...
I'm being swayed by that, hearing comments like Raf made from others as well as having read the article where they were describing the reactions of the families of the folks on that flight after they'd seen the movie...
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Raf
I wanted to applaud, but was too drained to do it. No one in my audience applauded (at least not audibly: I applauded silently). There were many, many tears. I shed a few, but "sobbing" would not be an accurate description for me.
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Tom Strange
well.. they were the relatives of the folks on the plane... ti sure has gotten great write ups all of them always pointing out that the movie is not 'exploitive' in any way...
so they really used the real people that were on the ground did they? and I hear they also used a lot of 'no-name' folks so that viewers wouldn't identify them with other movies, etc.
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laleo
It's a good movie. A very good movie. Maybe because I was prepared for utter agony -- I half expected an emotional breakdown that would cause me to be escorted out on a stretcher, in four-point restraints, hooked up to thousands of dollars worth of medical equipment -- the worst didn't happen. I didn't even need my tissues, not that it wasn't sad, but there wasn't even the slightest hint of melodrama in the re-telling. At no point did I feel that I was being manipulated. Just given the facts, and the sequence of events. I liked it. It did more to allay my fears, rather than resurrect them, because it gave me a context to put it all in. The crew and passengers did what they had to do, and that was that. Kudos to all those air traffic controllers, who did what they could. Their responses were very human, but also professional.
The movie is well paced. I wish I had gotten to know the characters a little better, but because it was all happening in "real" time, the camera switched from person to person so quickly that the introductions were superficial. It had the effect of making me feel as if I was right there with them, in that group of strangers. I didn't know anything more about each person than what they knew of each other. A few of the passengers were true to their stereotypes, like that Dutch(?) guy who kept advising everyone to just do as they were told and everything would be okay. Not too long ago, I saw Paradise Now, and I felt that gave me a little background on the hijackers. Paradise Now humanized the suicide bombers. United 93 didn't offer commentary, which I think is to their credit.
No one applauded, though. In fact, the theater was quiet, maybe because the showing was at almost 10 p.m. on a Sunday night. About a dozen people showed up. Overall, a good movie, for those inclined to see it.
Raf, the only time I felt the beginnings of contempt for Islam was at the beginning, when they were doing their prayer ritual, with the ominous music in the background. After that, the motives of the hijackers were incomprehensible to me.
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Raf
Laleo,
There was another scene that I thought would bring it out. I'll PT you about it.
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laleo
Raf, got it and answered.
If those who are going to see it have seen it, let us know. I wouldn't mind talking about the reasons and the effect of how some of those scenes were directed, if it doesn't spoil the movie for those who haven't seen it yet.
Krys? Tom? Linda (go watch it)? Anyone else? We're waiting for you to check in.
Raf, have you or are you planning to read Guests of the Ayatollah? I got the book, but haven't started it yet.
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Belle
I'll wait for the DVD, but would love to read your discussion of it, if it doesn't bother anyone else waiting to go see it. :)
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Tom Strange
I think I'll try to take in a matinee tomorrow or Wednesday...
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