Leaving Me Breathless

Ever since I took a video production class this semester, I have been fascinated with film making. Lately, when I watch films I find myself analyzing shot compositions, sound recreations, and editing styles. I realize that, even though not all directors are revered as "auteurs" of their films, every director puts their stamp on the final outcome. This is true with the film I watched today, United 93.

Director and screenwriter, Paul Greengrass-best known for directing The Bourne Supremacy, was definitely the author of this film. The first thing that I noticed about the film is the way he chooses to shoot the action. He uses closeups almost through the entire film, which keeps the audience right in the tension, drama, fear, action, and heartbreak. Even though we know too well what will happen, it does not make the film any less uncomfortable to watch. He uses a real (intact) plane to shoot the scenes, he shows real CNN footage of the attacks on the World Trade Center and Pentagon, he uses the gasps and screams from the actors to replicate our own reactions when we saw the terror on television.

I remember exactly what I was doing on 9/11/01. I remember hearing someone come in my class and say that a plane had hit the Pentagon. My teacher told them that they were crazy and started the class. I had to wait an hour before I called my boyfriend at the time, who was a police officer in the military. He said that he was already aware of what was going on. I drove as fast to his house as I could and sat on the couch with him as we watched the replay of the worst attack on US soil that I could remember. He had to go in to work, and for days, my roommates and I sat together on our couch, crying and holding hands until we all decided that we should be with our families. America pulled together for months, which was good for me because my boyfriend had to leave to go to Iraq.

I remember one day I was turning in the middle of a large intersection. Someone had a flag waving on the outside of their car, but it blew off and was on the road, underneath the red light. As I was turning, I stopped my car in the middle of the intersection, got out of my car, and picked it up off of the ground. Instead of the horns honking and bad words that I would normally expect for slowing down traffic, I got smiles from the other drivers.

This film brings me back to this time because after almost five years, we are already so far removed from this tragedy. We are back to blowing horns and not stopping to help others who need it.

This film softened my heart to the tragedy of this day with two scenes in particular. The first shows some of the passengers on the air phone, saying the Lord's Prayer with their loved ones, while, at the same time, showing a parallel shot of the terrorists praying to their god. The other scene was when the passengers started calling their loved ones, telling them that they loved them. Some of the people did not pick up the phone, so they had to leave their last goodbyes on an answering machine. The sickness on their face and the pain of knowing that they could not hear those who they loved one last time is enough to make the most macho of men shed a tear. The title is also something that is strong. Even though it was the flight name, it still speaks volumes about what happened on that day. The bravery, or heroism, or the execution of God's will, or whatever you call it was the main theme of this film. It was beautiful, haunting, heart-wrenching, and a film that will take a while to forget. Hopefully longer than five years.