United 93

By Mal -

9 out of 10

I admit, I was surprised. United 93 does a brilliant job of conveying the horror, disbelief and confusion that was rife on September 11th, 2001. With a title that makes it sound like a 1970’s air disaster movie, I was expecting some kind of over-dramatised schlock with a liberal dose of jingoism thrown in. That, however, is emphatically not what the film is all about.

United 93 follows 4 key groups of people through the day’s events: the flight’s passengers; the hijackers; air traffic controllers; and the military. While most of the dialogue is, out of necessity, conjecture, it’s to the film's credit that it manages to play out closer to a fly-on-the-wall documentary than a drama — at least until the final half hour. From that point on, instead of skipping from one group to the next, we are left with the build-up to the famous "Let’s roll" scenario and the equally well-known consequences.

Remarkably intense, this is a DVD I expected to give away once I’d watched it. Instead, I suspect I’ll hold onto it. I’m not one for clinging to past tragedies, but this film strikes me as a great document to explain what’s happened in the world since 2001. As such, it feels like it’s worth keeping — just in case I get asked some difficult questions later in life. You never know.

Comments

Mal said…
Dammit. Who the hell did I lend this to? Anyone reading this?
6:27 pm
Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Downfall

By -
7 out of 10 Hitler, eh, he was crackers, wasn't he, or was he? This film sets about trying to get the bottom of this question, detailing the last few hours of his life in his bunker in Berlin as the red army approached. The film, some would say rather controversially, answers the question early on with his pie fight with Himler coming as the starting credits fade. What follows is a romp through the final desperate hours of a ridiculous regime as they all, but their leader, seem to have grasped the fact that they’re buggered. The film has many memorable and chilling scenes, such as Dr Goebbels’ wife killing her own children rather than letting them fall into Communist hands. And the bit where Hitler’s dog is given cyanide for a laugh, with some superb acting by the dog. Anyway, if you’re interested in the madness of what went on in that bunker in Hitler’s last hours, this is for you. I would, however, also recommend Das Bunker und Laughs for a very different take on matt
Read more

The Brothers Grimm

By -
5 out of 10 On the face of it The Brothers Grimm is a perfect match for the dark surrealism of Terry Gilliam . However it fails to live up to its potential. The brothers (played by Matt Damon and Heath Ledger ) are travelling con-artists who arrive in a village with a real fairy tale curse. For a Fairy tale the cinematography is very grey and brown. There is little of the Gilliam imagination that we might have expected. Most surprising of all is that the special effects ranged from the sublime (blobby gingerbread man) to the downright awful. A scene where a CGI scarf was floating down a river was particularly derisible. At times it seems that the script is a vehicle for referencing yet another fairy tale rather than to tell the tale that the viewer is actually watching. This is a shame because when the movie does get going there are moments to enjoy.
Read more