The Best Movie So Far This Year
After last week when I watched that movie (read the blog below to find out what that steaming pile was because it doesn't deserve to get mentioned in the same blog as this movie)I was despairing of my film fandom, but last night, my faith in movies as meaningful art and mediums of thought was restored.
I will admit, I was a little nervous going to see United 93, not becasue I was afraid it would be bad (it was written and directed by Paul Greengrass who did the Bourne Supremecy, in itself a great film) but because I was afraid of the emotions it would stir within me. But after watching it last night I have to say that I'm glad I went. Its already been five years since the tragedy of 9/11, but it seems like I, and us as a society I guess, have begun to forget exactly what happened and what we felt that day. United 93 brings it all back with fury, my stomach was clenched and my throat had a lump in it throughout the entire film.
If it were total fiction, right now I would be singing Greengrass' praises for creating the most moving and suspensful film of the year, but what really hits home is that as much as we can tell from the evidence this is what really happened to those people and to our country that September day. It hurt to watch it, almost like our nation was losing a last piece of its naive innocence. Greengrass, who admirably makes no political or religous statement in the film, perfectly and unflinchingly allows us to be bystanders to this horrific event, we observe it and make our own conlusions, they aren't provided for us. We watch as the air traffic controllers and the military can't believe that a hijacking took place at all, and the shock and horror on their faces when they see the second plane strike the southern tower mirrored the same sick feeling I had when I first saw it myself. We are disturbed when we see how unprepared we were for such an attack, but we are also sympathetic to the fact that no one had ever even imagined such a scenario. When the first fighter jets are scrambled they instinctively head out to sea instead of to where the hijacked planes are flying...why? Becasue it had been drilled into their heads that the threat would come from abroad to our borders, not from within our bounderies with our own planes, and we are further frustrated when we see that the military and civillian institutions were not able to communicate accurately and readily with each other, it was panic and chaos on the ground, but even more harrowing is the story of the passengers and terrorists onboard United 93.
Nothing is told to us concerning either group, they are both just sets of people on any other day as far as we can tell...they are given no back story, not made to be any more evil or heroic than their actions over the next 90 minutes will indict or elevate them. That is a master stroke on Greegrass' part, this is the most real documentarty reenactment ever made. It is here, on the plane that the film did most of its work within me, I questioned whether or not I would have the courage to do what the passengers did that day, would I have been a coward? Would I have called my family and said goodbye? Would I have been angry...sad...would I have been a hero? This film reminded me that the world is bigger than my stories and characters, than our films at twentyone, or our jobs, or our website and blogs, but yet we are still a part of it, and even just regular people like us can impact all of history if we are willing to be courageous and level headed in the face of crisis. Which brings me to the terrorists, they are portrayed as human, which they should be, they are not coldy diabolical, not robotically evil, at least they don't see themselves as evil. They believe that they are the heroes of this tale, they are nervous, frightened, and they miss their families as well...but there is a difference between the terrorists and the passengers that is so obvious that you'll miss it if you don't stop to think. The terrorists and the passengers are both brave, both determined, and in then end both willing to fight to achieve their ends, but the passengers are fighting to preserve life, the terrorists to take it. At the end of the film there is a powerful scene where both the passengers and the terrorists pray to God...the terrorists praying for success in their mission of death, the passengers pray for their lives.
So I guess I should conclude with my thoughts on the world and myself as I see them through the filter of this movie. I question myself, my motives and my goals in this life and I wonder if I will ever be put in a situation where I must decide in a split second whether or not I'm willing to sacrifice my life for the greater good, I hope that I dont have to, but I also hope that in my small decisions that I make every day that I act as honorobly as I can. But it also makes me wonder about the world...war is such a terrible thing, its evil and destructive and hurts all parties involved, and I understand people who just want us to pull out of Iraq and criticize the president for sending our young men to die there or anywhere else in the world for that matter. But what does a good person or good nation do in a world where there are people mad enough to do what was done on 9/11? Does a good man simply bow his head and feel misery for the evil in the world? Does he defend himself time and time again? Does he attack? I don't know the answers to those questions all the time, but if its any answer I think that those men and those flight attendants on United 93 did the right thing, and they were heroes that day, we can learn from them.
One last thing...I hear Oliver Stone is doing a 9/11 movie...I hope he can take a lesson from Greengrass...Let people make up their own minds about what happened that day or who's to blame, don't be a Michael Moore and use a terrible tragedy to push your own agenda and make a profit. I swear to God, I know its hard sometimes to tell what's right and what's wrong, and I know that everyone has their own political viewpoints that think are important, and I'm sure that they are, but to use a day like 9/11 so close to its pain for anything but modest reflection, honoring the dead, and solemn soul searching (my hat is off to you Paul Greengrass) is wrong right now, save the prosecutions and theories for the lawmakers and officials for the moment, save your preaching for works of fiction or other histories for the time being, let the victims and heroes and families of 9/11 be honored for their generation, please! Leave the conspiracy theories for the next set of Moores and Stones, okay?
I will admit, I was a little nervous going to see United 93, not becasue I was afraid it would be bad (it was written and directed by Paul Greengrass who did the Bourne Supremecy, in itself a great film) but because I was afraid of the emotions it would stir within me. But after watching it last night I have to say that I'm glad I went. Its already been five years since the tragedy of 9/11, but it seems like I, and us as a society I guess, have begun to forget exactly what happened and what we felt that day. United 93 brings it all back with fury, my stomach was clenched and my throat had a lump in it throughout the entire film.
If it were total fiction, right now I would be singing Greengrass' praises for creating the most moving and suspensful film of the year, but what really hits home is that as much as we can tell from the evidence this is what really happened to those people and to our country that September day. It hurt to watch it, almost like our nation was losing a last piece of its naive innocence. Greengrass, who admirably makes no political or religous statement in the film, perfectly and unflinchingly allows us to be bystanders to this horrific event, we observe it and make our own conlusions, they aren't provided for us. We watch as the air traffic controllers and the military can't believe that a hijacking took place at all, and the shock and horror on their faces when they see the second plane strike the southern tower mirrored the same sick feeling I had when I first saw it myself. We are disturbed when we see how unprepared we were for such an attack, but we are also sympathetic to the fact that no one had ever even imagined such a scenario. When the first fighter jets are scrambled they instinctively head out to sea instead of to where the hijacked planes are flying...why? Becasue it had been drilled into their heads that the threat would come from abroad to our borders, not from within our bounderies with our own planes, and we are further frustrated when we see that the military and civillian institutions were not able to communicate accurately and readily with each other, it was panic and chaos on the ground, but even more harrowing is the story of the passengers and terrorists onboard United 93.
Nothing is told to us concerning either group, they are both just sets of people on any other day as far as we can tell...they are given no back story, not made to be any more evil or heroic than their actions over the next 90 minutes will indict or elevate them. That is a master stroke on Greegrass' part, this is the most real documentarty reenactment ever made. It is here, on the plane that the film did most of its work within me, I questioned whether or not I would have the courage to do what the passengers did that day, would I have been a coward? Would I have called my family and said goodbye? Would I have been angry...sad...would I have been a hero? This film reminded me that the world is bigger than my stories and characters, than our films at twentyone, or our jobs, or our website and blogs, but yet we are still a part of it, and even just regular people like us can impact all of history if we are willing to be courageous and level headed in the face of crisis. Which brings me to the terrorists, they are portrayed as human, which they should be, they are not coldy diabolical, not robotically evil, at least they don't see themselves as evil. They believe that they are the heroes of this tale, they are nervous, frightened, and they miss their families as well...but there is a difference between the terrorists and the passengers that is so obvious that you'll miss it if you don't stop to think. The terrorists and the passengers are both brave, both determined, and in then end both willing to fight to achieve their ends, but the passengers are fighting to preserve life, the terrorists to take it. At the end of the film there is a powerful scene where both the passengers and the terrorists pray to God...the terrorists praying for success in their mission of death, the passengers pray for their lives.
So I guess I should conclude with my thoughts on the world and myself as I see them through the filter of this movie. I question myself, my motives and my goals in this life and I wonder if I will ever be put in a situation where I must decide in a split second whether or not I'm willing to sacrifice my life for the greater good, I hope that I dont have to, but I also hope that in my small decisions that I make every day that I act as honorobly as I can. But it also makes me wonder about the world...war is such a terrible thing, its evil and destructive and hurts all parties involved, and I understand people who just want us to pull out of Iraq and criticize the president for sending our young men to die there or anywhere else in the world for that matter. But what does a good person or good nation do in a world where there are people mad enough to do what was done on 9/11? Does a good man simply bow his head and feel misery for the evil in the world? Does he defend himself time and time again? Does he attack? I don't know the answers to those questions all the time, but if its any answer I think that those men and those flight attendants on United 93 did the right thing, and they were heroes that day, we can learn from them.
One last thing...I hear Oliver Stone is doing a 9/11 movie...I hope he can take a lesson from Greengrass...Let people make up their own minds about what happened that day or who's to blame, don't be a Michael Moore and use a terrible tragedy to push your own agenda and make a profit. I swear to God, I know its hard sometimes to tell what's right and what's wrong, and I know that everyone has their own political viewpoints that think are important, and I'm sure that they are, but to use a day like 9/11 so close to its pain for anything but modest reflection, honoring the dead, and solemn soul searching (my hat is off to you Paul Greengrass) is wrong right now, save the prosecutions and theories for the lawmakers and officials for the moment, save your preaching for works of fiction or other histories for the time being, let the victims and heroes and families of 9/11 be honored for their generation, please! Leave the conspiracy theories for the next set of Moores and Stones, okay?
posted by Twenty One Productions at 9:01 AM
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