I saw United 93 and found it to be a well done, and agenda free, accounting of that day. It doesn't flinch from the mistakes we made, yet it doesn't flinch from the truth of the matter - that several Muslim extremist terrorists killed several thousand people that day, mostly Americans.
I have no intention of seeing World Trade Center when it comes out because I know it is impossible for Oliver Stone to make an agenda free movie. It is impossible for him to find the truth in a story and stick to it. He takes a grain of fact and twists it and turns it and pulls it and stretches it and covers it in so much crap it is unrecognizable and then releases it as "a true story" and people believe it.
Jeff Jarvis knows Stone has an agenda to sell, as well. His take:
And so it occurred to me: Here is Oliver Stone, the conspiracy theorists to beat all conspiracy theorist, facing the biggest conspiracy he could imagine — bin Laden terrorists with Saudi money plotting right under our noses to a devastating outcome. But this conspiracy, he’s ignoring. I shake my head.I imagine there will be a lot of head shaking after this movie. Posted by Vox at June 1, 2006 09:01 AM | TrackBack | Media , celebrities , movies , politics
There's a very interesting review of United 93 in the current National Review. It acknowledges that the film is extremely well done. But it also says that a movie should do more than just make us live through something unpleasant. If we had gotten lazy or complacent and needed a reminder about 9/11, maybe there would be a rationale for this film. But has that happened? I don't think so. Or maybe if the movie were uplifting or inspiring, we could take that feeling and perhaps catch a second wind in the war on terror. (Kind of the same effect I think "War of the Worlds" was meant to have.) The NR reviewer says clearly, however, that the movie does not inspire or uplift. And obviously, it's not meant to be enjoyed as an action movie or thriller. So, what's the point of a movie that simply exposes one to other people's fear and suffering?
Posted by: Special Agent Johnny Utah at June 1, 2006 09:42 PM"If we had gotten lazy or complacent and needed a reminder about 9/11"
Oh I think that we do, so many americans have forgotten why we're in Iraq, have forgotten that we were attacked. As aware as I try to be I think I could use reminding. I've thought that there should be a channel on TV playing the coverage from those days 24/7 so that when people decide to blame Bush for this or that, or forget why our soldiers are out there fighting for our freedom, they could just change the channel and be reminded.
We are complacent and it is horrifying.
Aside from that it is nice to honor those people, and to attempt to share their story.
Posted by: wickld at June 2, 2006 02:13 PMI definitely agree with WickId when she points out that Americans have become lazy and complacent. It took Oprah all of two weeks after 9/11 to start with the "what America did to deserve this" shows. We had trouble accepting that there was evil of that magnitude in the world then, and the farther (further?) from it we get, the more remote the idea seems.
I think if all the movie did was present a poignant reminder of that day, it would have been worth making - and you already know I think it is worth seeing, as do many of the critics. Sometimes reliving something unpleasant has it's own reward. It does more than that, though. It does remind us of the price we paid for being complacent. It does remind us that true evil exists.
And it is inspiring. If the NR reviewer was neither inspired nor uplifted, he was trying not to be. Perhaps he was trying to show how very cool headed he is, I don't know.
When those passengers decide to control what they can of their destiny, you can't help being moved. You realize that they have discovered they are going to die and they try to change the outcome; knowing that they may or may not survive the attempt, knowing that they prefer to not be passive victims, knowing that they may save other lives even if they lose their own.
More than their fear and suffering, you feel the resolve - particularly in the men who try to turn the tables. You feel these strangers become a group. You remember how you felt on that day and who you thought of first when the world seem crazy and dark.
At least I did.
Posted by: Vox at June 2, 2006 07:09 PM