Every generation has a day that everyone remembers where they were when the event took place. For my grand parents it was Pearl harbor. For my parents it was the Kennedy assassination. For us it was 9/11. It's events like these that scar themselves into the psyche and you're able to remember the color of the carpet and the walls and which anchor broke the news that something had happened. You may not remember dinner last week but you remember that day like it just happened.
United 93 takes us back to that day, but it's a very tight view of the attacks. Of course you see the last few hours of the passengers of United flight 93 as they board, take off, and all hell breaks loose. The film also shows what was happening on the ground as planes began to change course and disappear right before their eyes. Yes, the film shows you the towers, but it's in the context that these people saw it- out of an observation tower our on a video feed. It's a tightly knit film that could have easily become a grandiose effort, ala Irvin Allen.
The cast of mostly unknowns and people who were actually in those positions on 9/11 leave you in the movie in a way that having a big name star would pull you right out. These are strangers. They're strangers to each other. The passengers aren't played as ultimate heroes, they're played as people in a panic that just feel that they have to do something. There's no heroic speech, just a discussion of what to do and how to do it.
It's not very common for a docudrama to take you back to the event it's depicting. Usually they fall flat on their face and end up filling in the gaps with mindless fluff that weakens the story. United 93 fills the gaps, but doesn't give you any fluff to chew on. It's fascinating to watch as the system fails and these passengers come to grips with what's unfolding around them. A great rendition of a tragic day.
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