United 93

Directed by Paul Greengrass

Universal Pictures

5 stars

How do you make a movie about a day most people will never forget? In “United 93,” director and screenwriter Paul Greengrass tells the tale, already becoming an integral part of the American psyche, of a few short hours on the morning of Sept. 11, 2001.

Sitting in my seat before the movie started, I was already tense. As a resident of lower Manhattan, I, like other New Yorkers, felt deeply touched by that day. Indeed, I had found it hard to even watch the trailer online.

At the heart of “United 93” is the story of the passengers and the hijackers of United Airlines Flight 93, which was aimed at the Capitol building, but crashed into the Pennsylvania countryside when the passengers fought back against the hijackers. Greengrass, who directed “Bloody Sunday” and the unusually artistic thriller “The Bourne Supremacy,” takes his time with the story, building up with almost painful slowness the everyday lives of ordinary travelers. For example, Greengrass depicts one passenger rushing to make the flight and the stewardesses gossiping.

At the same time, delicately orchestrated shots of the hijackers preparing for their suicide mission leave the heart pounding with dread by the time the airplane doors close. We all know how the flight will end, but that knowledge only heightens the tension of the journey.

There has already been much discussion about how appropriate “United 93” is at this time. Theatergoers and the families of victims had complained about the emotionally packed trailer for the film. This is only the latest installment in a series of captivating attempts at dealing with 9/11: first the photographs that filled newspapers, the television documentaries, then “The 9/11 Commission Report,” which became a national best-seller.

In many ways, the film is about how ordinary life can turn on a dime, from mundane to terrifying, and about how fear, chaos, and courage build deep in our hearts. In many ways, Greengrass is telling a spiritual tale. “United 93” is a thriller, yes, but it both begins and ends with a prayer—the rhythmic Arabic chanting of the four hijackers in a New York hotel room and then between passengers reciting the Lord’s Prayer and the hijackers again praying as the plane sways towards the velvet Appalachians.

“United 93” is a superbly shot film, with strikingly poignant sequences that heighten the spiritual feel—the airplanes lined up on the tarmac looking fuzzy in the boiling heat of their engines, the Twin Towers burning desperately through a window of the banking plane.

Greengrass uses a soft focus and grainy film to create a washed-out effect, which does work to bring out the jumpy chaos as the realization of the tragedy builds. However, for me one of the most striking aspects of Sept. 11 was how bright the day was, how saturated the colors were, and how crystal clear the sky—appropriately, since the emotional impact of the event remains as sharp and clear as it was four and a half years ago.

Fittingly, “United 93” opened this week in New York at the Tribeca Film Festival, which was founded in response to the aftermath of Sept. 11

Bottom Line: Greengrass has crafted a superb and stunningly beautiful film, telling the story of anonymous heroics on a day when simply walking out your door and going to work was