The urge to tackle the reception of the arts is what differentiates the criticism Daniel Mendelsohn has on the United 93 film that depicts the happenings of September 2001 in the US. He has mastered the ability to pen down his reviews as commentaries in a cultural manner. His article September 11 at the Movies is one artistic response to the film United 93 that defines that day. Moments before the towers got hit; Daniel says his mind was on a classical Greek drama the Aeschylus’ Persians that is a true example of a real historical event (Mendelsohn, 43). This thought is what still goes through his mind while watching United 93 directed and created by Paul Greengrass and this is due to the fact that the film features the goings on of an action packed day that is spiced up with a combination of the passenger’s and the flight crew’s aggressiveness to derail the terrorist mission, leading to the plane’s emergency landing and the New York police officers rescue.
Daniel feels the film zoomed in too close and did not capture the big picture at the end, which was poor preparation by the US government to handle such an impending crisis, the US as a target by the jihadist group due to some decisions made in the government and the accidents that came about in these events (Mendelsohn, 44). The author is of the view that in the film Greengrass is not at all like Aeschylus who came up with a storyline that was in line with the recent history of the hubris empire. Daniel Mendelsohn article September 11 at the movies, criticizes the movie United 93 and calls it a curtain because he notes that it is actually possible to write about the real tragedy about the events of September 11th and their consequences by beginning with a drama and a solid plot to start with, which leads to the middle and the main agenda of the story and definitely a story that has to have an inexorable end.
It was in April 2006, that United 93 by Greengrass was released. And as soon as it got out, the film got a lot of attention from people and audiences all over America, but especially for the families and individuals who went through the September 11 events first hand alongside the government, news reporters and film critics. Everyone had a say on whether the film was good or bad or just neutral. The film depicts the story of a fourth plane aside from the three that were hijacked in the September 11th attacks of 2001. On this day four US commercial airlines got attacked by terrorists three out of which ended up crashing into the famous twin towers and the pentagon respectively (Rosenbaum, 1).
United 93 is a film that narrates a story of the fourth plane that did not reach its intended target destination due to the plane’s passenger vigilance together with its crew. The film is made in real time and closely features the stories of the ground flight controllers, the military, the flight crew, the passengers and the terrorists. The bulk of the film takes place on board the plane. British filmmaker Paul Greengrass is the writer, creator and director of the film United 93. Greengrasse’s intention mainly was to make sure the events were seen to be candid and realistic in line with ensuring the respect and sensitivity of the families and victims involved was strictly maintained (Rosenbaum, 1). Paul’s choice of actors and actresses was mainly to avoid that Hollywood appeal and the familiar actors in the film acted out of their own choice and he also says he spent a lot of time and energy gathering information on the events and interviewing some of the family and individuals who with through the tragedy.
The basic outline of the film is well known: through the simple assistance of mobile phone contracts from relatives and friends on the ground, the plane passengers figured out that the terrorists did not really have any negotiable demands, but were rather on a planned suicide mission similar to the ones carried out on the twin towers and the Pentagon on that same day. The flight crew and the passengers on the plane in a way took matters into their own hands to ensure the mission did not succeed; hence they sacrificed their own lives for the hundreds of civilians targeted in the center of Washington D.C, an action that led to the plane crash landing in Pennsylvania with no life left to rescue (Rosenbaum, 2).
Daniel refers to the film as a curtain and not a window because of its rash scenes. He poses the questions, was there a consideration to all the events that went on that on? Is it possible that the film is a symptom of uplift of redemption that shields us from the true happenings of devastating events that occur around us? (Mendelsohn, 44) Redemptive uplift is a language that the media best understand, especially with the hope that there is always dawn after the dark or the hope of a light at the end of the tunnel. There exists a feeling in the coverage of tragedies by the media that something good will always take over to bury the bad, in the end man will prevail stronger than ever.
The event of 9/11 is kind of United 93’s redemptive period. The response to the hijacking is the fable of redemption that many have clung to aside from the efforts put by the flight crew and the passengers on the plane. As seen in this film that tells a story larger than the happenings themselves.
Daniel does not question the heroism of the passengers and the flight crew of the plane in the film rather he wonders what about the courage portrayed by the firefighters and the police officers on the ground for the rescue mission of the Pentagon and the twin towers? Many of whom were not able to make it and died in the process, where were they featured. Greengrass defends himself in the film by showing that the passengers on flight 93 were the first to face and conquer the ruthlessness of the Al-Qaida terrorists. But is the flight 93 fable really what it’s been portrayed to be? Does what the film insists happened on flight 93 portray the human spirit and its triumph alongside a microcosmic model of the main victory of an enlightened civilization over theocratic savagery? Or is the film basically portraying the end of our times.
Flight 93 and its events have been with time enveloped by conspiracy theories with many predicting that the plane could have been shot down, to a drone having been involved, to the thought that the flight might have landed safely and even the theory that it did not crash at all. These are theories which Daniel does not agree with but at the same time agrees that some of these theories are at the very least something we can learn from. What is most important and central about the film and the actual events of flight 93 in September 2001 is the deep sense of unfolding events filled with images of total loss of control (Mendelsohn, 46).
In real sense what makes the film United 93, according to Daniel a little bit uncomfortable about the real events that happened to flight 93 is the portrayal of lack of control not just inside the plane but outside as well and in the world outside at large. The film takes place mostly in the confines of the plane with the main action taking place in the air-traffic control centers of Cleveland and New York, the military air-defense command headquarters in New York and Boston, the control room, VA., the FAA’s Herndon and in the control rooms. The film portrays shockingly all of these control rooms had little control over the events taking place on the plane and how breakdowns and poor communication, loss of liaison, poor intelligence and chaos is basically what took over the entire ordeal. The film ideally makes us constantly look at the people in the control rooms watching the screens, while we observe the horror of the events come to the fore concealing and revealing how out of control situations such as these can leave us.
Daniel would also characterize Don DeLillo’s 9/11 novel, Falling Man as a curtain and this is simply because its implication to the audience is something that is very familiar and one that many do not wish to admit as the novel does not uncover the truth of the world we live in which we are not prepared for in any way: a world that is spinning out of control (DeLillo, 12).There are the years, days and the actual date of the September 11th events and the novel Falling Man defines these events that portray America at the turn of the century. It all starts with the ash and smoke of the burning twin towers and the tracing of events in the aftermath of this terror to a few individuals. Initially Keith is seen to be stepping out of debris to a kind of life he never thought would be for him; one he feels happens to others. Keith’s estranged wife Lianne is burdened with a memory that is haunted in the process of her trying to distinguish between two different versions of one shadowy man. Finally, there is Keith and Liannes’s small son called Justin who simply stands at the window and is utterly amazed by what is happening around him, and is busy scanning the skylines to see more planes. It is the turn of events that makes Falling Man a novel gain praise for its forcefulness and at the same time criticized for its necessary lack of drama, its lack of characters that are self absorbing and a bit stiff, its categorical ratings of almost not having a real plot and by not bringing to the fore in a deep sense the personal lives of those who survived the 9/11 attacks.
Work cited
DeLillo, Don. Falling man. New York: Simon and Schuster, 2007.
Mendelsohn, Daniel. “September 11 at the movies.” Rev. of United 93, dir. Paul Greengrass and the World Trade Center, dir. Oliver Stone. New York Review of Books 21 Sept. 2006: 43-46.
Rosenbaum, Ron. "Hijacking the Hijacking: The Problem with the United 93 Films." Slate 27 April 2006. http://www.slate.com/id/2140676/
