United 93 is a 2006 docudramathriller film written and directed by Paul Greengrass. The film largely chronicles the events aboard United Airlines Flight 93,[3] one of the four hijacked flights during the September 11 attacks and the only one not to hit its intended target due to the intervention of passengers and crew; it also covers the experiences of government officials and air traffic controllers watching the other events of the attacks unfold.
The film attempts to recount the hijacking and subsequent events in the flight with as much veracity as possible (there is a disclaimer that some imagination had to be used) and in real time (from the flight's takeoff). The film was made with the cooperation of many of the passengers' families,[4] though not all agreed to participate;[5] many also attended the premiere. Furthermore, many of the on-the-ground personnel, most notably Federal Aviation Administration head Ben Sliney, portray themselves.
United 93 premiered on April 26, 2006, at the Tribeca Film Festival in New York City,[6] and later opened in North America on April 28, 2006. The film is regarded as one of the best films of 2006. It was also a commercial success, grossing $76.3 million worldwide.[2][7] Ten percent of the gross income from the three-day opening weekend was promised toward a donation to create a memorial for the flight's victims.[8] The film also received two Academy Award nominations, including Best Director for Greengrass.
As United 93 reaches its cruising altitude, and the passengers are served breakfast, Jarrah hesitates to give the sign to start the hijacking. An ACARS message is sent from Homer's wife, asking if he is all right. An ACARS warning notifies the pilots of the WTC attacks and to beware cockpit intrusion. After Nami urges Jarrah to attack, an impatient Haznawi prepares an artificial bomb in the lavatory. Ghamdi grabs flight attendant Deborah Welsh at knifepoint and passenger Mark Rothenberg is mortally wounded by Haznawi. As Haznawi and Nami force the passengers to the back of the plane, Ghamdi kills both pilots, but not in time to prevent them sending out a mayday call, and Welsh, as Jarrah takes the controls. Grandcolas (an emergency medical technician) tends to the dying Rothenberg as the hijackers jubilantly react to the text message indicating the success of the WTC attack. Nami berates Grandcolas and sends her back. Jarrah redirects the plane towards Washington, D.C., with the intention to crash the plane into the United States Capitol, as flight attendants Sandra Bradshaw and CeeCee Lyles find Rothenberg is dead. Bradshaw sees the hijackers moving the pilots and Welsh's bodies and the passengers overhear this.
Flight 77 crashes into the Pentagon, and FAA National Operations Manager Ben Sliney decides to shut down all U.S. air space and ground all flights. On United 93, passengers learn of the other attacks from family members via airphone. Realizing the hijackers are on a suicide mission, Burnett, Bingham, Beamer, Glick (a former judo champion), Guadagno, Nacke, Grandcolas, passengers William Cashman, Patrick Driscoll and Alan Beaven form a plan to retake the plane, with assistance from Bradshaw, Lyles and the flight staff, gathering weapons, and learn passenger Donald Greene is a licensed pilot and passenger Andrew Garcia is a former air traffic controller. As the group conspire, Haznawi and Nami anxiously realize they are losing control of the situation and Jarrah and Ghamdi get agitated, as they are twenty minutes away from D.C. and are unable to speed up. Passenger Christian Adams, attempting to counsel appeasement, is restrained by the passengers. The passengers pray and make final calls to loved ones.
After Beamer urges the group to take action, stating, "Let's Roll,", the passengers charge a stunned Haznawi, and tackle him. As Nami, Ghamdi and Jarrah panic, Haznawi is killed by Bingham bludgeoning his head with a fire extinguisher and Nacke declares the bomb a fake. Jarrah violently rocks the plane to disrupt the passenger revolt as Nami attempts to keep them at bay with a serving cart, Mace and a fire extinguisher, but the passengers persist and subdue Nami who is killed by Glick snapping his neck. Jarrah and Ghamdi are disheartened by the realization that they will never reach their target, as the passengers batter the cockpit door with the cart. Jarrah puts the aircraft into a steep dive, just as the passengers break the door and storm the cockpit. Ghamdi tries to protect Jarrah, but the passengers overpower him and wrestle Jarrah for control. United 93 inverts and plummets into a field in Shanksville, Pennsylvania, killing all aboard.
The film was the first Hollywood feature to draw its narrative directly from the September 11 attacks of 2001. Passengers were portrayed in the film mostly by professional but relatively unknown actors. (Tom Burnett, for instance, is played by Christian Clemenson, who has since appeared on Boston Legal and CSI: Miami). Additionally, several participants in the real-life events portray themselves in the film, including Thomas Roberts, Tobin Miller, Rich Sullivan, Tony Smith, James Fox, Shawna Fox, Jeremy Powell, Curt Applegate, Greg Callahan, Rick Tepper, and notably FAA operations manager Ben Sliney. Sliney was initially involved in the film in an advisory role. He was then cast in a small role as an air traffic controller. Later, Greengrass offered him the opportunity to play himself, which he accepted.[9] The roles of one of the flight attendants, the two pilots, and many other airline personnel were filled by actual airline employees.[10]
During production, the actors playing the crew and the passengers of the flight were put in separate hotels from the actors portraying the hijackers and ate their meals separately, ostensibly to create an air of antagonism in the film between the two groups. The set itself was built so that it moved the way the actual flight did. During the filming, many of the actors actually got injured, and the blood visible on their faces during the revolt scene is authentic.[11] Finishing the very first take, Jamie Harding, who plays Nami, became overwhelmed that he was sobbing.[12]
Filming took place from October until December 2005, on a 20-year-old reclaimed Boeing 757 formerly operated by MyTravel Airways, at Pinewood Studios near London. The cockpit was built by Flightdeck Solutions.[13] The location was chosen both for its financial incentives and to shield actors from unwanted public scrutiny they might have received in the United States.[14] Action was filmed with handheld cameras, chosen for their versatility on the close-quarters sets and to create a sense of immediacy. Exterior airport sequences were shot on location at Newark Liberty International Airport, while interiors were shot back in England at London Stansted Airport. A few scenes were also shot in Washington, D.C. and Boston. Additionally, an opening sequence set in Afghanistan was shot in Morocco, but it was cut from the film before release.[15]
The film was released in the United States on April 28, 2006, and opened second in the weekend box office behind RV, but it netted a slightly higher per-screen average.[2]
Initial screenings ended with the closing credits line "America's War on Terror had begun". This was replaced in the release version with "Dedicated to the memory of all those who lost their lives on September 11, 2001".[16]
There were calls for Universal to pull the film's trailers from circulation in cinemas, due to some audience members feeling startled or upset by the film's subject matter.[17] The studio did not heed that call, although one theatre in Manhattan voluntarily pulled the trailer after audience complaints.[8]
The Iraqi-born, London-based actor Lewis Alsamari, who plays Ghamdi, was reportedly denied a visa by United States immigration authorities when he applied to visit New York City to attend the premiere, despite having already been granted asylum in the United Kingdom since the 1990s. The reason reported to have been given was that he had once been a conscripted member of the Iraqi Army — although this was also the grounds for his refugee status after his desertion in 1993.[18] Other sources say that he applied late for his visa and that it was not denied.[19]
Of the four aircraft hijacked on September 11, United Airlines Flight 93 was the only aircraft that did not reach its hijackers' intended target.
The timing of the events is changed for dramatic effect, with Jarrah making his final call to his girlfriend from the airport lounge, whereas he made it from his hotel room, and Mohamed Atta's “we have some planes” transmission being determined before Flight 11 crashed into the WTC; it actually happened after.[20] In an interview, Ben Sliney said that Greengrass exaggerated other details for dramatic effect, such as he and various controllers swearing and shouting when in his recollection most people spoke quietly.[21]
The film suggests the hijacking taking place 46 minutes after takeoff, was on hesitation on the part of Jarrah, to the dismay of his fellow hijackers. The hijackers' intended target is unknown, but the film depicts Jarrah taping a picture of the United States Capitol on the yoke.[22]
The cockpit voice recorder tape from United Flight 93 has never been made public; however, a transcript was made public after the film was completed, shedding more light on what actually happened in the final 30 minutes before the plane crashed. Some parts contradict the filmmakers' choices in terms of some dialogue and specific aspects of the event. For example, the pilots, Jason Dahl and LeRoy Homer Jr., are shown in the film being killed immediately during the hijacking. This was based on documentary evidence from the 9/11 Commission Report which indicates that at least one passenger reported in a cell phone call seeing two people, possibly the pilots, lying dead or injured on the floor outside the cockpit after the hijacking.[23] Though Dahl is shown sending out the mayday call, Melody Homer claimed to recognise her husband as the voice of the mayday hailer.[24][25][26] Due to the then forthcoming Zacarias Moussaoui trial, Jason Dahl's wife Sandy Dahl was unable to tell Greengrass what she believed really happened regarding her husband.[27][28] Some statements made by the terrorists in the cockpit voice recorder transcript,[29] as well as moans heard in the background inside the cockpit,[30] raised doubts that both pilots were dead before the plane crashed.[31]
There is some controversy between some of the family members of the passengers and the investigative officials as to whether the passengers managed to breach the cockpit before the plane crashed. The 9/11 Commission Report concluded that "the hijackers remained at the controls but must have judged that the passengers were only seconds from overcoming them". However, many of the passengers' family members, having heard the audio recordings, believe that the passengers did breach the cockpit[32] and struggled with the hijackers for control of the yoke.[33][34]
Portrayal of Christian Adams
The film has been criticized for its portrayal of German passenger Christian Adams, who is portrayed as counseling appeasement, to the point the passengers restrain him when he tries to warn the hijackers, despite the absence of any evidence that he acted in this manner. It was also reported that Adams's widow did not cooperate with the filmmakers due to the emotional pain.[5]Sunday Times critic Cosmo Landesman mused, "Surely one of the passengers didn't phone home to point out that there was a cowardly German on board who wanted to give in?"[35] Critic John Harris suggested in a Guardian blog, "there will surely be all kinds of cries about old Europeansurrender monkeys, the United States' contrasting backbone etc."[36][37]Erich Redman, who portrayed Adams in the film, has stated he did not intend to portray Adams as cowardly but as a man who "never made rash decisions and everything he did was always well-considered".[37]
Reception
Critical response
United 93 was one of the most critically acclaimed films of 2006. James Berardinelli, Roger Ebert, Michael Medved, and Peter Travers all awarded it full marks on their rating scales, with Ebert calling the film "masterful and heartbreaking" and saying that it "does honor to the memory of the victims".[38] Travers termed it "one of the most moving films of the year", in Rolling Stone. The film holds a 90% "Fresh" rating on Rotten Tomatoes based on 212 reviews, and an average rating of 8.2/10, with the consensus: "Potent and sobering, United 93 treats the subject matter with respect, never resorting to Hollywood aggrandizement."[39] Calling it "gut-wrenching and surprisingly probative," The A.V. Club includes it on a list of "Great Films Too Painful To Watch Twice."[40]
The film has a score of 90 on Metacritic,[41] where it appears on 39 critics' top 10 lists, more than any other 2006 film on the site,[42] (although the 2006 film with the highest average score on the site is the re-released 1969 film Army of Shadows).[43][44] The film was ranked No. 1 on 47 lists (the most of any 2006 film).[45]
At the website Movie City News, which ranks 250 critics' lists and awards points for list-placement, United 93 ranks as the number one film of 2006[46][47][48] with a score of 917.5 points.
Alex von Tunzelmann of The Guardian gave the film a grade of C, saying: "United 93 is superbly made and authentic in feel, but the choices it makes about what happened on the plane – and who gets to be the heroes – are open to question."[50]
Top 10 lists
Only two films (The Departed and The Queen) appeared on more top 10 lists of the best films of 2006 than United 93, and no film received more #1 mentions:[42]
United 93 received numerous awards and nominations from film critics and guilds. Ultimately, the film received two Academy Award nominations, including Best Director, at the 79th Academy Awards, and six BAFTA Award nominations, including Best British Film, at the 60th British Academy Film Awards, winning two for Best Director and Best Film Editing.
Best Sound Editing for Sound Effects and Foley in a Foreign Film
Harry Barnes, Martin Cantwell, Simon Chase, Paul Conway, Tony Currie, Richard Fordham, Alex Joseph, Eddy Joseph, Stuart Morton, Oliver Tarney and Jack Whittaker
United 93 was released to DVD on September 5, 2006, in both widescreen and full screen. Also released was a 2-disc Special Limited Edition in widescreen. A Blu-ray Disc version was released on September 6, 2011.[53] A second Blu-ray release from Universal Studios for the film was released on June 5, 2012, as a part of Universal's Universal 100th Anniversary releases. This version included the same Blu-ray Disc (same transfer and same bonus features) found in the first 2011 release in addition to a DVD and digital copy included in the pack with a brand-new sleeve that was not available with the previous release.[54] Both Blu-ray Disc sets for the film are region-free.
^"United 93". The Times. May 21, 2006. Archived from the original on June 3, 2021. Its part of the most traumatic series of events in American history. So how do you make a film about 9/11s United 93 and keep it real, asks John-Paul Flintoff
