United 93 - Stunned

Parent Cafe
21

<p>My reaction to this thread:

  • I was deeply moved by Schindler’s List…so, if this resonates like that movie, I expect I will see it at some point.<br>
  • I had to leave a movie in college…went back to our room, climbed up onto the top bunk and sobbed for quite a while…the movie, “Of Mice and Men”…it was so hauntingly sad…I have never forgotten the bleak feeling that movie left me with…so, talk to your kids before they see this movie if you think it might be too harsh for them… especially the girls (sexist, I know!)
  • I will always wonder if those who saw this day “live” were more deeply affected than others…for instance, Quiltguru mentions seeing the 2nd plane fly into the towers on the Today Show. I too, had walked back into the kitchen to get a 2nd cup of coffee as I started my workday (home office) and heard Katie, Al and Matt talking about the errant plane that had mistakenly flown into the first tower… I saw the 2nd plane approach and crash…and I knew instantly we were being attacked. I watched the entire day…I was on the phone with my H, my mgr, a few friends… the web was overwhelmed…
  • I think my motivation to see it is to pay tribute to the heroes who rose up to stop the terrorists… one poster mentioned no $$ will go to any of the funds… is that true? is this only a for profit for the studio movie? That might affect my decision to go see it…</p>
22

<p>I havent decided whether to see it or not.But like another poster,I don’t know if I could see it in the theatre setting where I couldn’t get up,move around,etc. It’s too close to home here in NY. We lost a niece’s husband (firefighter-responder to the Towers), and know three other’s who lost their lives…my best friend’s neighbor’s husband,a woman I went to HS with,and an old aquaintance’s husband.Maybe it’s just too soon.I’d be interested in knowing how it’s doing attendance wise based on location of where its playing.</p>

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<p><a href=“http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/12112802/site/newsweek/[/url]”>http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/12112802/site/newsweek/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p>“Universal, which is releasing the film, plans to donate 10 percent of its opening weekend gross to the Flight 93 National Memorial Fund.”</p>

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<p>I am from Pittsburgh and was in business in Dallas at the time. The morning unfolded in slow motion for me, event by event. It climaxed with a panicked call from my wife when flight 93 crashed outside Pittsburgh, followed by a 20 hour drive home with a co-worker on a car-less interstate system without a single plane or vapor trail in the sky.</p>

<p>I don’t need to see it. I lived it…</p>

25

<p>I’m glad that the movie is so well done, but I live in Manhattan and was present that day. I support the movie’s existence,but I do not want to relive those feelings. It’s bad enough to walk past Pataki’s Pit and bad enough to look at the mutilated skyline every day.</p>

26

<p>Having lost a Scout Mom (on Flight 77) and living in DC area and remembering that day all too well, I really don;t wish to see the movie. And although I am a free-market economist, the fact that a filmmaker will profit on the loss of American lives I find morally distasteful.</p>

27

<p>I thought this was an amazing movie, honestly very inspiring. I told my husband I wanted to go just to know the people a little better that were on the plane, as if attending a funeral. I wanted to remember the day too–not relieve it, but remember how vulnerable we were at that moment in time. </p>

<p>The movie unfolded beautifully. The Americans on board were representative of all of us, young and old, weak and strong. As the disaster started to unfold and the realization finally was made by the passengers that the plane was piloted by hijackers, the passengers banded together with humble tools to fight very hard. The co-operative American spirt foiled the plot of this last plane and that was in fact inspiring to me. Yes they did die, but they went with a fight, a very brave show of American will.</p>

<p>It was illuminating too to see how poorly the Government handled this unexpected attack. In fact it indicated how frustratingly slow the President and the military reacted. Hopefully that will never happen again, because of this horrible day when unimaginable things happened.</p>

<p>I can see how some people would not want to see this movie, too personal or painful. I honestly would not recommend this to the young. After all,it takes a very simple situation that we all do, i.e. getting on a plane and going somewhere, and turns it into a helpless doomed disaster. Adults can process that a bit better I think. But for me I left thoughtful and reverent and grateful to those who fought so hard that day, and prevented an even worse disaster.</p>

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<p>

being the non-cynic on this one … as a frequent flyer “Flight 93” is not a description that a traveler would typically use while “United 93” is (without the Airline name the flight number is meaningless as a communication message) … I hope this was yet another point of realism in the movie.</p>

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<p>I was in my apartment in Port-au-Prince and just about to leave for work. As I was going down the stairs, one of my co-workers came out of his apartment and said, “Come see this - the World Trade Center is on fire.” We did not go into work that day, and many others joined us watching, including one colleague whose daughter worked in the WTC. He spent the day frantically trying to get information. Very late in the day, he finally found her; she was on the train when it happened, late for work.</p>

<p>And thus began my odyssey to get back to the USA…</p>

<p>As for comparison (emotionally) with Schindler’s List, I agree that it has the same effect. But with Schindler’s List, you knew it was a movie, and the real events it depicted had you sobbing. But United 93 feels real. As the reviewer I quoted above said, at no point do you think this is a movie.</p>

<p>I cannot stress enough how non-exploitative this movie is. There are no heart-tugging scenes of the families, although you do see the phone calls. There are no backstories; you don’t even know which character is which. Much of the dialog is mumbled, and you learn no more about the characters than you would if you were a passenger on the flight. There is only the camera there recording each of the 91 minutes the flight was in the air. And that minimalism has an effect that is beyond overwhelming. The feeling is that you are a passenger on the flight as well.</p>

<p>As for profit motives, films are made for two reasons: profit and art. We can all pretty much tell where the balance lies in each movie we see. The director, Paul Greengrass could have made yet another action movie, but this film - with its striving for accuracy and its use of unknown actors and non-actors - weighs in heavily on the art side. Greengrass had a vision of what he wanted this film to do, and succeeded beyond expectation.</p>

<p>I’ve read in several places that the trailer for the movie misrepresents it. I haven’t seen the trailer, but it supposedly makes the film look more like a traditional movie - almost an action thriller. If that’s true, it not only misrepresents the film, but is disrespectful. I think the profit-side of the business produced the trailer.</p>

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<p>One of my former co-workers and the father of one of my son’s classmates was on that flight. Given that the families have endorsed this film, out of respect for him and all of the other 9/11 victims I feel that watching it will be tribute to their memories. There are many people alive today, not to mention that one of the major symbols of our democracy still stands due to the bravery of these people.</p>

31

<p>On that awful day, we lost three family members, many friends, over a hundred business colleagues of my H, and many more acquaintances. The ripple effects of September 11 affected even more people that we know and love, people who were displaced because their apartment buildings were damaged or filled with the ash from the collapse, people whose businesses were levelled and are still in the process of recovering their lives, people whose jobs in those towers will never be regained. We lived that day in Manhattan and my H and two Ds were downtown and watched the second plane slam into that tower. It was a day we will never forget.</p>

<p>From what I know, much thought went into the making of this movie. Consultation with families was extensive and the filmmakers were truly hopeful of making a film which would pay tribute to those on board the plane that morning. That day, in all its horror, is now an important part of U.S. history, and it needs to be remembered. Honoring those who died, in my opinion, through text, music, film, or any other medium, is part of the recording of such an event, in addition to being part of the healing process. Remembering is vital. I think the other issue is that there have been numerous stories, news reports, even documentaries done about what happened in NYC and D.C. that day but nothing really about what happened to those on Flight 93. This film will fill that void in a way that, perhaps, the families of those victims need. </p>

<p>I think the fact that this movie strikes such a raw nerve is testament to the horror of that day and how people have difficulty believing that it happened almost five years ago. It’s hard to imagine that it’s been that long. What a different life we had prior to that day, and how much has happened in the ensuing years. It’s almost impossible to remember what it was like not to have Osama Bin Laden, Afghanistan, Iraq, Guantanamo, the shoe bomber, Moussaui, increased airport security, the war on terror, shock and awe, and Ground Zero in our frame of reference to everyday life. Maybe five years wasn’t long enough to wait before making this movie, I’m not sure. I imagine I’ll wait for the dvd to watch it at home, I’m not sure I’m up to watching it in a theatre. Conversely, maybe it WAS necessary to make it now, while it is still raw and painful, while people still have those visceral reactions to the memories of that day. I don’t think that there’s an easy answer.</p>

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<p>For me, seeing movies that depict real events is a way to expand my life’s experiences. I saw United 93 this past Friday and was deeply impressed. I was not too pleased, however, when my husband pointed out a boy of about eight in attendance, apparently with his mother.</p>

<p>Another movie that really gives you the feeling of having been there is “Downfall,” about Hitler’s last days. I highly recommend it.</p>

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<p>Excerpt from Julia Keller (Chicago Tribune):

</p>

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<p>I won’t be able to see it and I’m not sure I get the cultural value of highlighting the Flight 93 moments. </p>

<p>Just returned from a brief visit to Manhattan, our home for ten years in the 80’s.</p>

<p>The hole in the skyline still rips my guts. None of my New York friends has fully recovered. None.</p>

35

<p>“…and I’m not sure I get the cultural value of highlighting the Flight 93 moments.”</p>

<p>I am with you, cheers. </p>

<p>But, I think I know who does GET the “value” – the producer(s)!$!$!$! ---- somehow, I just cannot stomach that there are people (I use the term generously) who will, at the first opportune time, make untold profit from such sickening events as that flight. Oh, but I forget, a WHOLE TEN PERCENT of the FIRST WEEKEND’S PROFITS will be given to the monument – do I hear “drop in the bucket”?! If the monument does not need more then how about spending it on, say, counterterrorism, or better yet, on educating our friends in the middle east about how wonderful we Americans really are. And, that the crass, consumer-driven American culture which seems to be the only picture other nations have of us is not really that way at all. Think a Hollywood producer can convince them?..ha, ha, ha.</p>

<p>Sometimes I have a hard time deciding who is worse, the terrorists or the ones making money from their unforgivable actions.</p>

36

<p>Second your opinion, leanid.</p>

<p>Unless ALL (90-ish percent) proceeds go toward victims… I just don’t think it’s something I will see.</p>

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<p>leanid, you may have a hard time deciding, but I can assure you that I, who lost many loved ones that day, have not one iota of trouble deciding who is worse. Did you have the same objections to the television networks, the radio stations, the online news sites, which have ‘profitted’ from 9/11 reports and shows? Do you object to the publishers which have published thousands of 9/11 related stories? How about the book publishers? At last count there were close to 4000 books available on the subject. I think that people are getting too caught up on the issue of revenues from the film, and I find any attempt to equate the individuals who have made this film, with the terrorists, very offensive.</p>

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<p>I agree alwaysamom. This movie was done so well, no hype or Hollywood feel. It was a very dignified look at a tragic day in our lives as Americans. The profits don’t bother me, and I am very happy this film was made and that I had a chance to see it. It was comforting to be in the movie theatre watching this film with other Americans who had their own experience with that day. You could hear some crying and quiet cheering at various parts of the film, and there was a very somber reverence as we left the theatre. It was as I said earlier, like attending a funeral, and leaving last respects.</p>

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<p>If the new standard is that no one is allowed to profit from relating an event of human suffering, then there will be a lot of movies, books and TV shows that should never be made. Do you feel the same about Hotel Rwanda? Or Schindler’s List? Or the myriad of WWII, Korean, Vietnam, and other war movies? Or, what about movies about AIDS like Philadelphia? A movie that is tastefully done in a non-exploitive manner (unlike those such as The Bridge Over the River Kwai ) can be of value - regardless of whether someone makes a profit from it. To deny a profit for telling a story would cause the world of art to relegate itself to just fiction.</p>

40

<p>Very well said, I agree completely.</p>