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United 93 (film)

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United 93
Directed byPaul Greengrass
Written byPaul Greengrass
Produced byZakaria Alaoui,
Mairi Bett,
Tim Bevan,
Eric Fellner,
Lloyd Levin
Distributed byUniversal Pictures
Release date
2006-04-28
LanguageEnglish

United 93 is a critically acclaimed [1][2] 2006 docudrama attempting to chronicle events aboard United Airlines Flight 93 which was hijacked during the September 11, 2001 attacks. The film aims to recount with as much veracity as possible (there is a disclaimer that some imagination had to be used), in real time, what has come to be known in the United States as an iconic moment of heroism. The film was made with the full cooperation of all the families of those onboard. [3]

The world premiere of United 93 occured on April 26 at the 2006 Tribeca Film Festival in New York City, a festival founded to celebrate New York City as a major filmmaking center and to contribute towards the long-term recovery of lower Manhattan. [4]. Several family members of the passengers aboard the flight attended the premiere to show their support.

The film opened nationwide in the United States on April 28, 2006. 10% of the grosses from the three day opening weekend were promised towards a donation to create a memorial for the victims of Flight 93. [5]

Production notes

The film, written and directed by Paul Greengrass, is the first Hollywood feature film to draw its narrative directly from the September 11 attacks. The dialogue, most of which was improvised during rehearsals Greengrass held with the cast, was based on face-to-face interviews between actors and families of those they portray. Action was filmed with handheld cameras, chosen for their versatility on the close-quarters set and to create a sense of realism. The film is cast with several non-actors (actual flight attendants and pilots play roles). Some participants in the real-life events play themselves, including FAA operations manager Ben Sliney. [6]

Filming took place on a reclaimed Boeing 757 at Pinewood Studios near London, England. This was partly due to financial incentives but it also meant that the actors were kept away from any intense public scrutiny that they may have received in the U.S.[7]

The title was changed from Flight 93 to United 93 in March of 2006, to differentiate it from the A&E film Flight 93. Shortly thereafter, the film was given an 'R' rating by the Motion Picture Association of America for "language, and some intense sequences of terror and violence". [8]

The film was released in US cinemas on April 28th, 2006. It opened second in the weekend box office behind RV, but netted a slightly higher per-screen average. It registered a 93% Tomatometer rating on Rotten Tomatoes, earning it a "Certified Fresh" title.

Template:Spoiler Almost none of the passengers in the film are referred to by their names. Their identities remain anonymous, emphasizing the group effort over any individual heroics (and also portraying the fact that strangers on an airplane would not know one another's names). The final shot in the film shows only the hands of the passengers struggling with the hijackers for control of the plane. Initial screenings ended with a 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." [9] Template:Endspoiler

Historical background

Main article: United Airlines Flight 93

United Airlines Flight 93 was a Boeing 757-222 flight that regularly flew from Newark International Airport (now known as Newark Liberty International Airport) in Newark, New Jersey, to San Francisco International Airport continuing on to Narita International Airport in Tokyo, Japan, on a different aircraft. On September 11, 2001, the aircraft on the flight was one of the four planes hijacked as part of the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks. It was the only one of the four planes that did not reach its intended target, instead crashing near Shanksville, Pennsylvania, about 150 miles northwest of Washington, D.C. This was apparently because crew and passengers, alerted through phone calls, attempted to subdue the hijackers. The hijackers are thought to have crashed the plane to keep the crew and passengers from gaining control. It is believed that pilot LeRoy Homer, flight attendants CeeCee Lyles and Sandra Bradshaw and passengers Todd Beamer, Mark Bingham, Tom Burnett, Andrew Garcia, Jeremy Glick, and Richard Guadagno, among others, fought back against the hijackers.

Controversy

After the trailers for the film began circulating in cinemas, there were calls for Universal Pictures to pull them, due to the upset and surprise caused to audience members. [10] One theater in Manhattan unilaterally pulled the trailer after audience complaints. [5]

The Iraqi-born, London-based actor Lewis Alsamari, who plays the lead hijacker in the film, was denied a visa by US 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 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.[11]

The official internet forum for the film has been shut down as of May 3, 2006, previously available on Universal's website.[12] Likely reasoning for this is that 9/11 Conspiracy theorists took the board over and used it as a site for pursuing their own political agendas as part of the 9/11 Truth Movement. No word has yet come from Universal as to why the board was removed from their server, though some users of the board were calling for its removal in respect of the family members of those who lost their lives on 9/11.

See also

References

  1. ^ "UNITED 93 (2006)". Rotten Tomatoes. Retrieved 2006-04-29.
  2. ^ "UNITED 93 (2006)". Metacritic. Retrieved 2006-04-29.
  3. ^ Four Years On, a Cabin's-Eye View of 9/11 January 1, 2006 New York Times article
  4. ^ September 11 plane drama to open NY film festival March 29, 2006 Reuters article
  5. ^ a b A Dark Day Revisited April 10, 2006 Newsweek
  6. ^ '"Inside United 93, 2006's most debated film"; April, 2006; Entertainment Weekly
  7. ^ The Day They Hijacked America April 28 2006 The Guardian
  8. ^ MPAA Film Ratings
  9. ^ A Flight to Remember April 18, 2006 The Village Voice
  10. ^ Universal Will Not Pull 'United 93' Trailer, Despite Criticism April 4, 2006, New York Times
  11. ^ 9/11 film actor refused visa for US premiere April 21, 2006 The Times
  12. ^ Former Site of United 93 Universal Pictures Message Board
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