02 May 2006

united 93




I learned disc golf yesterday. FUN, except I stink pretty bad at it so far! Apparently I'm a quick learner at least.

Then last night, I saw United 93. I don't care what opinions you have about whether or not it's too soon, or if it's disrespectful, or a bad idea, or whatever. There is no better way, no better timeframe, no better anything they could have done with that film. It is...well, it's hard to find the right word to use to describe it. It's not really good, because it's just so...terrible. It's suspensful, but you know from the very beginning what's going to happen at the end. It is...intense. Very raw, very emotional. Yet not too saccharine. It doesn't develop or glorify any of the characters, just shows them at the very basic level of their reality. That was one of my favorite parts, actually. They used very subtle details that were obviously gathered from the passengers' families. Like the guys planning their camping trip. And the telephone conversations others had with their loved ones. Even the hijackers were not personified as evil, were not justified or glorified. They were just there, presented plainly, honestly, and yet complicated. Real humans. We don't remember anyone's first name, there are no character-developing storylines. It happens in real time.

I went in very skeptical, very prepared to be disappointed and disgusted. But I left that theater very impressed. It is its own category. Not because I think millions of people will rave about it, or because it will make a billion dollars. I don't care if it does, and quite frankly, I honestly believe that the people who made it didn't care either.

It would have been too soon to make a movie like Pearl Harbor. It would have been too soon to make a movie like Titanic. But it was not too soon for United 93.



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