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April 28, 2006
United 93
I haven't seen it yet, so this isn't a review. (For one of those, I recommend my friend Pete's review over at FilmThreat.) Rather, I am talking about the discussion over whether United 93 is "too soon" after 9/11 to have been made or released, as is the argument from some corners.
Let me say up front that I understand how scarring and searing that day was and remains for so many Americans. As a New York resident who also spent several years in Washington DC, I felt the day acutely; both of my homes were under attack. I had gone to work meetings in the Pentagon many times, had my best friend in DC working in the building that day, and we couldn't find my younger brother, also in DC and who occasionally is in that building, for most of that maddening afternoon. I understand the trauma associated with it, and I don't mean to disrespect anyone who cannot watch this film or its trailer. I'm just offering a perspective: that there is a difference between "too soon" and "too traumatic," and I think most of those opposed to this film are missing the distinction.
United 93 is the first feature film about 9/11, it's true. But anyone arguing that it's too soon must not have had the television on for the last five years. Six months after the attacks, CBS aired the Gaudet brothers' superb documentary. Every year on the anniversary, the cable news networks devote time to re-airing the footage and examining the events of the day. The National Geographic Channel has an entire documentary mini-series of the events of that day. The History Channel and Discovery Channel have repeatedly aired examinations and speculations as to what caused the actual collapses of the WTC towers. The History Channel has even shot an episode of their series "Zero Hour" (which intersplices real audio and video footage with re-enactments) around the final hour of American Airlines Flight 11. And of course, George W. Bush and Dick Cheney have wrapped themselves in the trauma of the day for political advantage for 55 months now.
All of these things predate United 93. So how can Paul Greengrass's movie -- by all accounts respectfully shot, brilliantly written, and as unsensational as possible -- be "too soon?"
We've been living with 9/11 -- both its echoes in how we now behave, think and feel, and the images of the attacks, both still and moving -- since the day it happened. I understand the trauma and pain of those who feel it so deeply that this movie disturbs them. But to call it "too soon" is to suggest that the wounds haven't been pecked at, poked at, torn open since the day of the attacks. We rip the scab open every day... when we walk through an airport and take off our shoes before heading through the metal detector... when we get ready for a trip and have to think about what items we can pack... when we get nervous if we see an unattended bag in a public place... when we look at the New York skyline and see only blue sky where our memory tells us buidings ought to be... when we discuss immigration, when we talk politics, and even -- for some -- when we choose where to go on vacation and how to get there.
Many of us have tried to heal and move on, much like a person who's lost a limb might do; while part of us may now be missing, we still have life to live. For those who are so traumatized by 9/11 that United 93 is discomforting, I would argue that the wounds have never healed -- so suggesting that this film might open them is, while not disingenuous, certainly a misunderstanding.
It won't surprise me if United 93 is #1 at the box office this weekend; it also won't surprise me to see it open weakly and not make money. People's reactions to 9/11 are still too diverse to accurately predict how they'll respond to this movie. Is it too traumatic? Possibly, for some. But is it too soon?
I say not.
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Comments
While I can't go watch that movie... I have no problem with the fact it was made. I think you have to make a personal decision about what you can handle... I know that I can't, but don't begrudge those that can from seeing it.
Posted by: Tweetypie at April 28, 2006 10:56 AM
