Synopsis:A recreation of the events on the one commerical airliner hijacked on 9/11/01 that did not hit its intended target, as passengers and crew received and gave communication to relatives and friends on the ground, and made an attempt to take back the plane from the hijackers,with the plane ultimately crashing into a rural area in Pennsylvania, killing all those on board.
Well, who among us will ever forget our exact location and feelings when we first heard on that Tuesday morning about what was happening in the air above our country? I remember first hearing about a plane crashing into the
I didn't even compute or consider that it was a commercial airliner. As someone then flying 50.000 miles a year, I knew enough to know that that was way too low for a huge commercial plane. I remember clearly how I felt when I found out that it was a commerical airliner, and with my legal background immediately thinking of the huge liability and the end of United Airlines as we then knew it...minutes later finding out that two had hit the Pentagon and knowing that it could not have been an accident, calling my mother-who worked at the Pentagon years ago-and finding out about the impact there and, since she had access to TV and I did not, asking her if the news people thought we were under attack.
I recall how I felt in my meeting, a bunch of lawyers sitting around trying to settle a case and knowing that something was going on but not what it was, the lawyers calling their client in New York and saying they could not get through, me calling my then-wife in California and her telling me "...both towers are down". I remember thinking of friends and family in the Washington, D.C and New York areas, frantically trying to call them and not, in some cases, not even able to get a dial tone...thinking of clients or friends who might have been on a plane.....
But, another thing I remember clearly is the feeling of pride that I felt when the facts and theories began to come out that the passengers of Flight 93 had fought back and brought the plane down before it could hit its intended target. Not to putdown the passengers and crew of the other flights, its known that those on board Flight 93, due to their collective use of cell phones, had some idea of what was going with other planes and some of what had already happened that morning. In fairness to the other flights, it has to be said the crews have long been trained in a hijack or "skyjack" situation, to comply with the hijackers to , theoretically, keep passengers safe and to let the military and/or law enforcement deal with things on the gound. These maniac terrorists knew that, and used it to their sick advantage on the other flights.
Its hard for me to understand any criticism of this film other than by those for whom it may to soon or painful to watch for personal reasons. But, logic would tell you that those people would not watch it or some of the other films that are being released about 9/11. Those who criticize the acting, or the theory of what really happened on the plane before it crashed, or the fact that no big name actors are in the movie (a conscious and, in my opinion, correct decision by the filmmaker) simply have an axe to grind with other issues or don't really understand the tragedy.
Films about 9/11 are not, and should not be, about the following foreign or domestic policy of this or any country, nor should they be about blaming any other world leader or country other than those sick bastards who killed all of those innocent people for nothing.
This film is not a great work of cinematic art, nor was it intended to be, nor does it need to be. The filmmakers understood that the strength of the true story, of that beautiful yet frustrating quality that we humans have to be at our best when things are at their worst-and sometimes only then- was more than enough to make this film very powerful.
They were right.
Leave a comment