UNITED 93: FILM REVIEW
My wife and I saw United 93 on Saturday afternoon at a screening in a small theatre in the heart of downtown Toronto that was about half full. United 93 quite simply is a film that is experienced as opposed to watched. This is not a film that one could view while munching on popcorn or whatever other concessions your local cinema sells nowadays to make money off of rentals.As directed by Paul Greengrass, the film is shot in a cinema verite style that is the cornerstone of Greengrass’ previous experience as a documentarian for the BBC. As such the film is a faithful recreation of September 11 with many of the grounds people and air traffic controllers being played by the actual individuals themselves. There is very little in the way of score to help the viewer, but when there is, there is a foreboding sense of dread for what is about to take place. By filming in a 'neutral' documentary like style, Greengrass allows the viewers to judge the actions of all involved that day for themselves.
Contrary to what some may hope for, cinematically this is much preferable to a piece of jingoism where Matt Damon plays Todd Beamer as the music swells and we hear “Let’s Roll”. That type of film would too easily be able to be dismissed in film circles as propaganda and would not stand the test of time. Many of the WWII jingoistic style films, while entertaining, have much more of a kitsch value today and I am glad Greengrass does not follow their lead.
Similarly, this is also not a Michael Moore, George Clooney, Washowski style film either; where the terrorists are the 'good guys' and the ‘evil American’s’ get what they deserve. Instead, the neutrality of this film serves as something as a 911 Rorschach Test, and one can not watch it outside of the prism of one's own political pre-disposition. How one interprets the events graphically depicted will be a testament to the kind of person you are.
As for myself, the level of tension was harrowing and although I felt anger at the actions of the terrorists that day, I can only say in all honesty I felt more anger while watching at those who try to justify their actions; those who are 'proud to be out of touch'; those, cozy, comfortable well-to-do types who confuse right from wrong and up from down. Those who think America 'deserved it' (i.e. Noam Chomsky); or those that think they did it to themselves (the conspiracy brigades); those who sit smugly in Ivory Towers and those who stand at Hollywood awards ceremonies and laugh at second tier satirists while people die.
That perhaps was the most frustrating feeling of all. The fact that so many people seek to excuse the actions of the 911 terrorists in the name of their own outdated, sixties inspired ideology. This was nowhere more on display when at the end of my showing, just as the screen went black, a deep male voice cried out 'Death to America'. The man then ran out of the theatre. Why was I not surprised to find at least one person say this at a downtown Toronto theatre. A Jamaican woman then chastised him as having no soul or heart but he had already left.
During the credits I went over to her to ask a few questions. She said the man had watched the entire film and constantly mumbled to himself things like ('yes, we got the first tower etc.') as the progression of the films events continued. It angered her and afterward she talked to the manager. He obviously was a coward which is why he ran out of the theatre so quickly as we all sat in stunned silence.
Yet I was not angered by him. His comment reminded me that there are indeed people on this continent that want what happened to those souls on Sept. 11 to happen to all of us.
Greengrass has made a document that is cinematically neutral so it cannot be considered jingoist propaganda. But by letting the days events speak for themselves, he forces those that only see 'excuses' for the actions of the terrorists to confront reality.
His film is graphic not just in the level of tension or violence it shows, but also in how it depicts the utter chaos everyone felt that day; in depicting sequences at the opening of the film where we see the terrorists prepare for the day by praying in their hotel room and shaving all of the hair off of their bodies. These sequences lend a level of credence and realism that goes beyond the violent...into the truly disturbing.
No one should feel as though they have to see any film...but United 93 is a film experience that I think many should have; perhaps the ones that don't want to have it most of all.
This film is being praised right now by many on both sides of the political spectrum as a skilled and masterful piece of filmmaking. I predict by awards season it will be seen by the left as a piece of ‘right wing propaganda’ and many who gave it four stars now will rethink their initial enthusiasm (guaranteed Ebert will leave it off his top ten by January).
As far as awards go, I do not think it is even appropriate to judge this film by that standard. I have little taste for awards anymore and if this film wins none it means it will probably stand taller in cinema history for it. Greengrass' style was totally appropriate to the subject matter; he lets the actions speak for themselves.
I must also say that the actors who portrayed the terrorists should be commended for doing what could not have been easy. They humanized the one dimensional and as such found the truth that these individuals acted of their own volition...not because they were 'oppressed'.
I feel sorry for anyone who is so consumed by hate that they would feel compelled to act as they did; they have lost their souls for eternity. Yet there can also be no excuses for what they did.
These actors hopefully will continue to find work. What they did was probably just as difficult on an artistic level as what the actors playing the passengers did; maybe more.
Similarly, the sequence where Greengrass cuts from the terrorists praying that shows the bloody plane dashboard to the passengers saying the Lord's Prayer was one of the most gutsy and courageous I've seen in a film in years. In one sequence he takes away the notion that so many want to have that the terrorists did this because they were 'forced' to or that their 'faith' had nothing to do with it. I feel sorry for those majority of Muslims who have nothing to do with these events yet also have to live with them.
It is emotionally devastating to watch those final moments as the physical struggle ensues and you feel that the passengers almost...almost might make it to the cockpit in time. And that final struggle is brutal. The level of tension and chaos is unbearable and it lasts much longer than I anticipated. It is not a 'well choreographed' movie fight. It is animalistic in a way I did not expect. You keep hoping that somehow this will be a classic 'movie' and they will all live. When the screen cuts to black, you feel drained and morose.
The passengers of United Airlines 93 are rightly remembered as heroes. There is right. There is wrong.
Every step of the way Greengrass made the correct artistic decisions. This was courageous cinema at its best.
As much as the subject matter was very difficult to watch...on a cinematic level, I had not been this enthralled by artistry in a long time.
posted by Nicol DuMoulin @ 9:50 AM
2 Comments:
The point is for people to remember. I think it's clear that a lot of people have forgotten, or want to forget.
The reality is, making a movie is both a business as well as an artform. Why is this double standard being applied because movies need to make money in order for more movies to be made? Do we chastise the author for writing a controversial book for "profit mongering", which will be pumped out by a big publishing house in the millions? Do you tell the artist, "What's the point of that sculpture, you just want to make millions from the controversy?"
There's no denying that Universal wants to make money on "United 93." But the fact that every one of the familes of the 40 passengers wanted the story to be told should be strong evidence that the film is a focused act of powerful storytelling.
These families want it to be told because, 5 years after 9/11, there is still no permanent memorial to the victims of United 93. Because the money isn't there. Because people are arguing about what the "message" of the memorial should be. In essence, because people are already starting to forget what happened that day in September. And you ask, "What's the point?"
Remembrance and obversation is not about performing some rote ritual on a particular day, to forget it about the next. True remembrance is about carrying the memories within one's heart, and to visit and revisit them continuously, not only that lessons will never be forgotten, but new ones be discovered.
As Paul Greengrass recently said in an interview, some people may be saying "Too soon!" but the families and he are saying, "It's high time!"
I just saw United 93 today and I thought it was magnificently done. The neutral documentary style and near total lack of music worked perfectly to make this anything but a sensationalised exploitation of an unimaginable horror. As much as we all watched events live on television that morning, it was still a highly filtered event, removed from us not only by hundreds or thousands of miles but by the ineffectual commentary of the network news stars who simply had nothing to add the the tragedy we were watching with our own eyes. It was an event too huge for the reducing funnel of television. The only time we saw anything like the human side of the story was when the cameras caught a few close-ups of the people jammed into the broken windows of the WTC, futilely seeking relief and rescue. United 93 was, for me, another one of those rare glimpses of the human side of what happened that day. Of course we were only watching actors but what they were portraying was very real. It put another human face on an event too large and too distant to be grasped and acted, in a way, as a representation of all the others stories we know nothing about and can't imagine.
It's interesting that the story no one knew about or was paying attention to on the morning of 9/11 is the one most fully known to us now.
Post a Comment
<< Home