General Impressions
Acting: The acting was fantastic. Very underspoken. The early scenes featured people having the same chit-chat that anyone else has on a normal Tuesday morning, and we see them each in their element - the passengers, the pilots and stewardesses, the military, the air traffic controllers, the FAA. Everyone was simply going about their daily business before a roller coaster of fear, confusion, despair, anger, and hope. The only people who know something strange is afoot are the audience and the terrorists. The actors portraying the terrorists were also excellent - their anxiety, zeal, and bloodlust was brought out in their proper proportions. These weren't caricatures, they were human (more below).
Point of View: I was nervous that the film would paint the terrorists as simply misguided, or, worse, actually be sypathetic to their cause. Happily, this is not the case. Although their deeds were monstrous, they were portrayed humanely - the "lead" terrorist calls his wife(?) and tells her that he loves her in a genuinely touching moment and the same man shows enough anxiety before they spring into action that you hope he's going to chicken out. They seemed apprehensive, but showed little-to-no self doubt. However, their humanity does not create sympathy, it does the opposite. There is a stark contrast between what a human being is - a creature designed to glorify God by enjoying him forever - and what these men actually do. This movie brings out, as Ralph Venning would call it, the sinfulness of sin and the evil of evil. And not sin or evil in an abstract, philosophical sense; more like sin and evil when the rubber meets the road. If we saw these terrorists as misguided youth or feeble-minded and brainwashed or stark-raving mad, we could call them something else. Instead, they are cold, calculated, and doing the will of Allah. In short, these men are portrayed for exactly what they were - murderers. I felt the pleasure of justice served as two of them were getting beat to a pulp with a fire extinguisher. I'm not sure this is an appropriate or righteous emotion for me to have, but it probably isn't far from what the passengers felt - and don't judge me it, I'm still processing.
One of the great things about this movie is that it doesn't give you the perspective from any of the other flights. None of the characters know exactly what is going on. You feel the confusion of the air traffic controllers, the FAA, and the military. You even recognize the disappointment of the terrorists when it's announced that their flight is delayed - are they going to be airborne in time to participate in the debauchery? At one point, all the FAA knows is that a flight has disappeared over Manhattan. You can feel the devasation when they turn on CNN (like most of us did) and connect the dots between all the strange events taking place on their radars and what had actually happened.
Also, I thought they might portray our government officials as a bunch of incompetent boobs. Again, this was not the case. Although there were a few groan-inducing "Dilbert" moments, they were usually systemic errors instead of individual incompetence. We simply weren't prepared for this, but it's not hard to see why. The officials in this movie are portrayed humanely - like the terrorists - but we empathize with them. What seems so clear in hindsight was a mass of confusion and darkness in the actual moment. I can excuse their errors, because I'm not sure anyone else would have done better.
Music: there was no background music at all for the first half of the film, and then it was used very sparingly thereafter. It took me about 15 minutes to realize that there was no musical track telling me how I should feel or who were the heroes and villains or when the drama was going to start. This was another contributing factor to why the movie felt so real. My life doesn't have a sound-track. Does yours?
Sound: great use of surround sound. Several times during the movie I turned around because I thought the people around me were talking, only to realize that it was "other" passengers on the plane. This was another contributing factor to the sensation that you were right there with them.
Winds of Shakespearean Tragedy: There were a couple of small moments that gave you a twinge of hope, but there was always a forboding sense of doom. We know how this story is going to turn out. We see a college rugby player almost miss the flight - we groan as he barely makes it. We here one stewardess saying she's going to change her schedule so she can see her kids more - we know she's seen them for the last time. We see that other flights have been taken hostage before United 93 even gets off the ground - oh no, they take off anyway. We see the pilots receive a message to lock the door and watch out for takeovers - but they think somethings screwy and by the time they confirm - it's too late. We see the passengers heroically charge the cockpit, but can't gain control of the plane before it crashes.
And then silence.
Overall, a fantastic film. This movie is unique and fits into no genre. I have nothing to compare it to. The shocked silence of the audience as the credits came up reminded me of Schindler's List, but the style of the two movie is completely different. This is a powerful, painful, engrossing movie. It deserves the great reviews it's getting, and if it doesn't get nominated for best picture then we'll know we've entered a brokeback age.
A few more random thoughts:
I am glad that my wife wasn't there, and I won't be taking her to see it.
Adam ordered a large popcorn and hardly touched it.
In this period of time we exist - when the kingdom of God has not yet been consumated and humanity is still racked by sin, disease, war, starvation, etc. - there are basically two gifts given to us by which the depravity of man is restrained. One is the church - the salt of the earth. The church's job is to bear witness to the lordship of Christ over all mankind and offer the gift of salvation through repentance and faith. This has two effects - the Holy Spirit works with and through the church to regenerate some in spiritual rebirth and to retrain others through the pricking of conscious. Well, the Muslim world decided a long time ago to follow a false prophet and get rid of the church. These men were depraved, and they probably had no salt or light in their lives. Just the blind leading the blind.
The other gift is government. The government's job is to punish evil, and maintain good order such that righteousness is rewarded. We've created other jobs for government - educating our children, taking care of our elderly, protecting the environment, forcing evil gas-companies to reduce their profits, and (soon) paying for everyone's healthcare. Although education, healthcare, and protecting the environment are good things; it's really a matter of priorities. We have become way to bent out of shape about secondary issues in government. The primary issues should be maintenance of order, upholding fair dealings, and the punishment of evil. Anything else is a distraction.
Concerning the memorial for the United 93 victims (and murderers): the idea of using a grove of maple trees in the shape of a crescent (a common Islamic symbol which also happens to face Mecca and would turn blood-red in the fall) is about the most ridiculous thing I've ever heard. Also, they'll be using translucent blocks to commemorate each of the victims - including the 4 terrorists.
Islam - religion of peace? Hah!
Psalm 90:12
So teach us to number our days
that we may get a heart of wisdom.
Ecclesiastes 9:12
For man does not know his time. Like fish that are taken in an evil net, and like birds that are caught in a snare, so the children of man are snared at an evil time, when it suddenly falls upon them.
Luke 13:1-5
There were some present at that very time who told him about the Galileans whose blood Pilate had mingled with their sacrifices. And he answered them, “Do you think that these Galileans were worse sinners than all the other Galileans, because they suffered in this way? No, I tell you; but unless you repent, you will all likewise perish. Or those eighteen on whom the tower in Siloam fell and killed them: do you think that they were worse offenders than all the others who lived in Jerusalem? No, I tell you; but unless you repent, you will all likewise perish.”
