United 93

Last week we watched a film that I think could possibly be the most stressful film in history. United 93 is a real-time reconstruction of the events surrounding 9/11 from the perspective of the air traffic controllers, the passengers on one of the planes and surprisingly also the terrorists themselves. The cast is made up of unknown actors and the people that are working that day at air traffic control are the ACTUAL people that were there on the day. They play themselves and say the exact things that they did say at that time. Knowing this as you watch the film makes it even more haunting and tense.

It starts as just an ordinary day at the airport. The air hostesses are getting on the planes and the passengers are having natural conversations about what they are going to do when they arrive at their destination. The dramatic irony is that they don't know what is going to happen to them: Most people watching the film will already know what is going to happen and this creates many opportunities for tension to rise.

One of the things that shocked me about the film was the fact that before 9/11, nobody even suspected that somebody ould hijack a plane in order to use it as a weapon. When the word "hijack" is used, many people laugh and say something like "Hijack, serious? We haven't had one of those in years!". When I was watching this I felt like I could scream out to them to tell them how dangerous this was!

The film is so immersive, probably due to the fact that it runs in real time and because it is rooted in fact. I actually felt really emotional at the moment when the first plane struck the trade center. The last time I had seen that footage I was about 12 and I guess that over the years I had lost the full impact of it. The first time that I saw this film, I felt much like the passengers on the plane. I became so involved that I actually felt the desperation to overcome the terrorists and stop their plan.

One thing that I really admired about the film makers was that they actually took the time to consider how the terrorists would have acted and felt about the whole operation. I think that the way it was portrayed was probably quite accurate as the processes they went through in order to complete their plan, and their motivation was believable. I didn't really question this at any time during the film.

I think that the film was a very good tribute to the events of 9/11. I guess that many people won't see this film because they will think that it is simply a way of making money out of a horrific event: I think that actually it is a shame that it is being viewed like that. I felt very moved and affected both in terms of my emotions and my understanding of the current world situation.