TOMS Movies: United 93

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Sept. 26, 2006

Photo Credit

I just finished United 93.  It is the most visceral movie I have ever seen. It looks like a documentary, but obviously it is not. I'm not sure how to react to it, except that it is excellent. All of us remember exactly where we were and what we were doing when 9-11 happened, but none of us could have known the horror of being doomed to bring down an important building, to be literally aboard a weapon of war. The movie does not blame anyone, other than the terrorists who did it, and that is as it should be- they are the only ones ultimately responsible: not President Bush, not President Clinton, no one else is responsible for what happened. The world changed, as we all know, and no one who was alive at 7 in the morning on that day would have suspected anything on the scale of what happened.

I should probably wait a few minutes to get my wits about me, but I feel like doing this now. I don't know if I ever want to see this movie again. It is great, it packs a powerful punch, but it's almost too realistic and disturbing.

One more thing. There is one thing I found to be inauthentic about the movie. When we see the pilot and co-pilot making small talk as they board the plane, we learn that one is from New York and one is from Denver. On September 10, 2001, the Denver Broncos played the New York Giants on Monday Night Football. I don't know why I remember that. I don't remember who won, but I remember that they played. I noticed it immediately when I saw it. Somehow, I really doubt that two middle-aged men, one from each of the two cities that played each other on Monday night, would not have brought that up. Not that it would have made it a better movie, but you just wonder how the research department missed something that obvious.