NORMAL LIFE: United 93

Last night, I went to see United 93, an emotional and fact-based story about the passengers aboard the doomed flight of the same name. The flight was the last of the four planes hijacked on September 11, 2001, the only one to not reach it's target, The Capitol.

The movie's documentary-like opening flashes between scenes at the Federal Aviation Authority and various military bases as they try to determine why contact is being lost with a series of planes. When footage from CNN is watched from the incident rooms, it dawns on the stressed-out, ill-prepared air traffic controllers that a well-planned war is starting to unfold.

Scenes from the attacks on the World Trade Centre and the Pentagon are interspersed with scenes from the cabin of United 93. When four passengers overan the plan, their plan was to cause panic and fear of the worst kind. While the hijackers took control of the plane, all the passengers retreated to the rear of the plane from where they phoned loved ones on mobile phones and using the onboard phones. They learned of the earlier attacks from relatives, then realising their own fate. This knowledge results in a backlash, an attempt to re-take control of the plane.

The last 30 minutes of the movie focus on the overwhelming bravery of the passengers in the face of adversity of the worst possible kind. Nobody could help them up there, they were alone and their determination to save thousands of lives is depicted in this film. By this time, US Air Space had been shut down with no more planes being allowed in the air. With the fear on the passengers faces, you actually felt you were there. So convincing was the drama that never in all my years have I sweated so much during a movie as I did yesterday.

With no intention of ruining the plot, several questions come forth as the movie suddenly ended. What if the passengers had retaliated five minutes earlier? How did four suspicious-looking passengers escape detection? And what is it that makes these people believe that what they're doing is god's will? If anything, the movie serves as a tastfule, respectful tribute devoid of commercialism remeniscent of modern films. After all, who will remember the terrorists?

As I left the movie theatre, Bree and I debated the movie's validity. The movie has been based on cockpit recordings and the recordings of the passenger's telephone calls to their loved ones so this is as true an account we will ever get. Secondly, was the movie ill-timed, what with the 5th anniversary of the disasters just weeks away? Like I said earlier, the move is a real, genuine tribute to those who lost their lives and, while it might not actually ease the relationship between 'us' and 'them', if anything the movie teaches is to be more alert. I mean, how did four planes manage to be hijacked in one day?