<p>What struck me the most about the emotions of the day was the almost lack of emotion. Not that people were actually unemotional but I think what was happening in front of their eyes was so unbelievable that they could not process it from an emotional perspective. I was at work watching it on TV with probably 50 or so other people when the towers fell. When they did, there were no screams of anguish or anything like that. There were just a few gasps and someone actually said, rather calmly, “There goes the tower”. </p>
<p>Likewise, the dispassionate coverage from the TV reporters covering it was almost eerie. There were no cries of, “Oh the humanity” as were famously broadcast as the Hindenburg exploded in flames. </p>
<p>For those who were not directly involved because of loved ones being involved, I think it took awhile for the rest of the people to come to grips with what they were seeing. So, I agree with sjmom2329 that perhaps this movie might be a way for people to process those emotions.</p>
I’m not trying to make too many generalizations here, but I do think that I had a more visceral, long-lasting response to the events of 9/11 than my relatives on the west coast. We had moved to the Boston area just a month before, and were living in temporary housing while waiting for our house. As I mentioned earlier, my husband had a flight out of Logan, so we were just waiting for the car to pick him up when we realized what was happening. Graduates of my kids’ elementary and high schools were on the planes and in the towers, so it just seemed like it could have been us. I don’t think my west coast relatives had that same feeling, and it doesn’t seem to affect them now the way it affects me.</p>
<p>I went last night with my oldest daughter,17, to see this movie. Her English teacher gave them an assignment (extra credit) to write a page long paper on the impact the movie had on them. She was so affected by it that it will probably be a few days before she can get it written. I had troubled sleep, those dreams that don’t allow one to fall asleep deeply. I won’t allow my younger ones to see this in the theater. Maybe on DVD in small doses a while down the road. It WAS reliving instead of remembering. Very well done and very painful.</p>
<p>sjmom2329,
As a NY resident, I have to agree with you. I have the impression that my friends in other parts of the country watched it happening as a news event while I “lived it” in quite a different way. I just feel that I don’t need to “relive” it through this movie.</p>
<p>Momof3sons, SJmom2329,
I agree that the northeast area felt it differently…I drove down to
the greater Boston area shortly after 9/11 and I will never forget how many flags were flying…I think every house, every car had a flag on it. Just crossing the border from Maine into Mass. made it all so clear how many folks from the greater Boston area were touched by this.</p>
<p>To all of you who are pulling the profiting off of death card, where’s your outrage about companies like Haliburton who always seem to find their way into making money off of death? It drives me crazy. It’s like the people who would send a pick pocketer to life in prison while ignoring the corporate CEO who robs his investors (and the country) out of BILLIONS of dollars. United 93 is piece of art. See it or don’t, but don’t try to claim that these artists are trying to profit off of death. If money was their mission they would’ve made some slapstick, gross out comedy or horror film aimed at teenagers. They made this movie becuase they were affected by the events of 911 and wanted someway to express themselves through their art.</p>
<p>Just like to point out that the Mid-Atlantic (i.e. PA down to VA) should be included in that, since two of the attacks happened there. I don’t mean to imply that you were purposely excluding them, but after being told by multiple New Yorkers that I am an ‘outsider’ as far as 9-11 goes, despite having felt the ground shake and seen the smoke start to rise from the Pentagon, I’m become a bit touchy about how often people limit 9-11 to NYC.</p>
<p>I just know that the from the begining of the movie, even before flight 93 takes off, i was shaking. This went on for the entire movie, as well as breathing really heavily and teary eyes, or at times out right crying. I would have been somewhat embarrassed by my lack of composure, had i not realized that over half of the theater was reacting the same way. Literally, grown men wear crying.</p>
<p>Also, I agree with GentlemanandScholar This movie is not about money. It is about honoring the brave people on flight 93.</p>
<p>Personally, I am tired of people living in the corn fields of Iowa acting all fearful and scared of terrorism, or thinking that they have the same personal investment of emotion in that day as people in NY, DC or Boston. People who lost friends or relatives (me) or saw the Trade Towers fall or the Pentagon hit simply DO have a different frame of reference, no matter how touchy is makes other people feel. Doesn’t mean they don’t have deep emotions, but they aren’t the same as someone who was there or touched personally.</p>
<p>It is very hard to face our demons. And we have become extrememly complacent in the past 5 years. I believe this is something we need to see, to not just remember, but to honor. We need to have the realization brought back to us from time to time that there are people out there that do not think the way we do, that they believe in a code that says that killing and hurting us is what God wants. Maybe this movie will make people more ready for attacks and vigilant again. I thurt, so we shoved it into the back of our brains, and many forgot how they felt that horrible day. That said, I feel for the young who are still innocent and sensitive, such as Berurah’s DD. Seeing the pain and fear and actions of our heroes does more than any scary movie could. It makes us face our own immortality and the injustice in the world. A lot for younger, impressionable children. Some difficult talks in the future for Berurah and DD. (I will keep you in my thoughts and prayers) Yet, the one good thing is that it is just a couple hours, knowing it seemed like a lifetime for the passengers, but not years as some of the victims, adults and children alike, of the Nazis and other despots in the world have had to endure. I know survivors who wouldn’t see the movies, but others who felt they should, to show their support for the people who want to make sure this is not forgotten, or debunk the ideas that “this never happened.” And yes, the producers are making a lot of money off this, but they had the support of the families. That was laudable, that they worked with them, when they really didn’t have to.</p>
<p>Residents of Iowa (or as the east and west coasters dismissively call the “flyover states”) may have lost loved ones as well. Please don’t dismiss their fear. </p>
<p>Personally I think it’s horrendous that middle and high schools in our area turned on the news that day in the classroom. We live in the greater DC area. Even before the Pentagon was hit, no teacher knew whose dad/mom extended relative was in NY that day. When the news coverage suddenly switched to the Pentagon being attacked, many, many kids (including my own D) were in hysterics wondering if their relative was okay. </p>
<p>We could have been stationed at Ft Leavenworth, Camp Pendleton, anywhere in the world and our AD member happened to be TDY to Washington and my child still would have been upset. Today’s society is very mobile. You don’t know who has immediate connections to where just because they currently live in a certain area.</p>
<p>Turning on the news that day was probably something done reflexively, without any kind of reflection about the kinds of things you bring up. One would hope for more sensitivity the next time something bad happens, but then each time is unique and different, isn’t it?</p>
<p>Motherdear, a friend of a friend from Minnesota died in the towers (visiting on business), so other areas of the county were affected, though not to the degree as NYC or DC. My older son, who was then in 9th grade at a new school, was allowed to watch TV coverage during PE class. I was upset about that at the time, since the kids both knew that their dad was supposed to be flying out of Logan that day. I did call the schools, to see if there was an early dismissal, and asked that a message be conveyed that Dad was home, but neither got the message. I just can’t imagine how hard this was for kids whose parents worked at the twin towers or the Pentagon.</p>
<p>I thought it was a great movie. I saw United 93 on opening night. It was intense, but the violence was less graphic than I expected, because much of the movie is from the point of view of the passengers in the back of the plane. It’s wonderful acting, direction, and editing. </p>
<p>I was especially interested in how I would feel in the next few days after the movie. I found that my dreams the first few following nights were actually very optimistic, full of successful problem-solving. To me, that’s the story of Flight 93: ordinary people finding themselves in an impossibly difficult situation and finding the best response they could to that situation. It’s a true story of courage and not giving up, and that’s why I think everyone ought to see it. I will take my thirteen-year-old son to see it soon, because I want to watch the movie again, and I think it will help his growing-up process to see that depiction of the most momentous day since he was born.</p>
<p>I see that there are comments in this thread about participants’ personal involvement with the events in the film, so I’ll mention some of mine. I used to travel all over the United States as an interpreter for official visitors to this country. I have been to New York City more times than I can remember, and was up on top of the World Trade Center several times on bright, sunny mornings just like the morning of the attack. As a frequent flyer, I even used to sit in the airliner cockpit before takeoff and chat with the flight crew back in the good, old innocent days. As the movie United 93 makes clear, the attack on the World Trade Center on September 11th, 2001 was an attack on America, and I hope every American who can deal with that reality does deal with that reality, and keeps participating in activities that eventually make such an attack impossible to recur. </p>
<p>Because I have stood on top of the World Trade Center and looked across New York harbor on a peaceful day, the attack was very personal to me. But the response to the attack over the next several years will be even more personal, and have even more influence on my life and the lives of my children. I would rather have Americans watching a movie about the actual events of the attack than watching trash like RV or Silent Hill.</p>
<p>I just returned home from watching the movie. I have such a headache…I’ve realized that I sat through the whole show on the edge of my seat, jaw clenched, and scared. I knew the ending, but it still put chills down my body at the end.
I think it was a wonderful tribute to the heroes of United 93 and I would recommend it to all adults.</p>
<p>I just saw the movie for the second time tonight. My wife noticed the first time, and I noticed this time, that the cinematographic technique of using a lot of hand-held cameras to do the filming gives a certain feeling of motion sickness to some people–to my wife more than to me, but I noticed it this time. </p>
<p>Yeah, I highly recommend the movie. I think I still want to see it with other people I know while it is in its first run. I noticed in the late afternoon show I attended today that many of the viewers were having conversations in non-English languages before the show began, so America’s immigrant communities are watching United 93 just as are descendants of New England Yankees like me. I agree with post #78 that the movie is a wonderful tribute to the passengers on flight 93.</p>