United 93

Wow. Fucking Wow. Is about all i can say. That may well be the most intense cinematic experience i have ever witnessed. And that is saying something when it was previously Grave of The Fireflies. I don’t see how you can possibly say it was boring, but some people have. My only thought is that the docudrama approach didn’t appeal to them? God we are so caught up in hollywood classical realism that anything that seems even remotely different prevents us from an emotional engagment with it? Come on.. If you have seen Bloody Sunday which was also directed by Greengrass in the same manner then you will know what to expect.

Personally i think by shooting it as a docu-drama with no name actors and some people even playing themselves makes it so much more intense. And the fact that we know what happens only makes it worse. The sense of dread is almost unbearable. Especially when we learn of little details such as the fact that United 93 was still on the ground waiting to take off when the first plane hit the trade centre.

I was wondering whether i would cry when i watched this, and for the first hour i thought i wasn’t going to. I mean i felt awful and i was completely riveted but it wasn’t until their calls to their loved ones that the gravity of the situation was finally brought home to me. These people are never going to see their children/grandparents/wifes/lovers again. Ever. Just listening to their messages and quiet dignity about accepting their fate made it so tragic. And then the passengers who decided to take action and try and stop them from taking it over.. fucking hell. You have to think, would you have done that if you were in the same position?

Perhaps that is a problem, their predicament is so far out there beyond my imagining that i can’t possibly begin to even think about what it would have been like to experience that flight. I only have what we see on screen. But boy what a document we have.

More about the look and feel of the film. Basically the film is shot in real-time with no sound and no big name actors bringing in any extratextual baggage into the film. A completely realist, cinema verite approach. Greengrass isn’t forcing you to feel emotion, he is simply presenting the facts as best he can given the evidence we have about the event. There is no crescendo of music with the planes hitting the tower or close-ups screaming at us to cry. The grief just comes naturally, in waves and waves and waves. I had to turn away from the screen it was that intense. I had my eyes closed and my hands clasped over my mouth trying to hold in my sobs.

I think you get the picture. This is an incredible experience. It is NOT entertainment. If you go there looking for entertainment you will be dissapointed. As i sat there in the theatre and heard the crunching of popcorn i just had to grimace. United 93 cannot be any further away from a popcorn movie if it tried. Don’t these people understand there is something implicitly wrong with fucking eating popcorn and munching on ice-creams from the candy bar when watching something like this? Their indifference really disturbed me.

I don’t doubt that some of you will find it boring. Its a sad result of the prevalence fo classical narrative cinema in Hollywood. The way it is shot will prevent a lot of people from finding some sort of entry point into the film. However i also feel that a lot of people are going to be really affected by this film and that it will act as a way to work out some sort of suppressed grief over what happened that day.

9/10

Go see it. But for godsake don’t take in popcorn.