United 93- ****

The best thing I can say about United 93 is that it wasn’t what I expected it to be at all. When I heard about it I could only assume that, like all historical tragedies, it had been turned into a special effects event movie. And while I am generalizing (Bruckheimer hasn’t gotten his hands on the slaughter of the Cathars yet), I found this idea distasteful. I do not agree with the idea that it’s “too soon” to make a movie, especially if it is done well. But I do hate the way we’ve turned 9/11 has been changed from a tragic warning to a buzzword for fear and obedience.

This is why United 93 is a good movie. It takes the propaganda out of the story and shows us exactly what happened that day. There are no frills, no effects, no patriotic one-liners and no talk-whispered monologue about patriotism. It’s a straight story about ordinary people who became heroes as best they could.

Director Paul Greengrass started his career doing documentaries, and he knows that building to a violent and insulting climax is pointless. We know there’s only one way for the movie to end. Instead, Greengrass gives us a sparse, realistic view of the day. He hops back and forth from the passengers and terrorists (both are given equal time) on United 93 to the air traffic controllers on the ground (most of whom play themselves). His jerky camera movements, which were so annoying in The Bourne Supremacy, make perfect sense here. Greengrass does a great job of putting you on the plane, so when it all goes down, you feel there, and that has more impact than any patriotic soliloquy.

The movie does slip a bit when it focuses on the air traffic controllers. The confusion that works so well on the plane comes off as sloppy on the ground. I think this is what Greengrass was going for, but the immediacy is lost. After being bounced through several different air traffic towers, rooms and military instillations, we start to lose focus. This weighs the movie down a little, especially in the second half. But the good part of all of this is that Greengrass never begins laying blame. As the danger becomes more immediate, we see that the mistakes made that day were not due to anyone’s particular incompetence. They were trying, but there were real stakes and protocols to follow. It was real life, and there was no magic Jack Bauer to come and save the day.

United 93 is a sober, respectful view of a horrifying event in our history. It is a movie that will probably not hold up to later generations, or maybe even repeat viewings (but it’s also not a movie you’ll want to watch over and over again), but is definitely not “too soon.” Now is the perfect time for this movie, to remind us of what really happened and what people really gave their lives for. I applaud the filmmakers for not having to add a love story, or CGI effects. Not to mention having the guts to give the terrorists actual personalities and motivations instead of making them faceless, evil enemies. Even if the documentary style holds the film back a little, it was the only way it could have been done. So far, this is the best movie of 2006.

But, of course, I haven’t seen Poseidon yet…