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'United 93' is a powerful film, but not for everyone

The first concern many Americans might have about the new "United 93" — that a drama about 9/11's "fourth plane" would be either mawkishly exploitative or a rallying cry for jingoists — aren't quite so worrying for film buffs who know the movie's writer/director: In his previous "Bloody Sunday," which depicted a pivotal tragedy in the Irish "troubles," Paul Greengrass demonstrated an extraordinary poise dealing with politically loaded horrors.

Universal Studios 'United 93' 4 out of 5 stars The verdict: A deft retelling of tragedy. Director: Paul Greengrass Starring: Opal Alladin, Erich Redman, Ben Sliney, Susan Blommaert, Peter Hermann Run time: 111 minutes Release date: April 28, 2006 Rating: R for some intense sequences of terror and violence. See showtimes Hollywood on tragedy Hollywood typically — but not always — has waited longer to depict major traumatic events than it has with "United 93." Is it too soon? Atlantans share their thoughts about 'United 93' on this AccessAtlanta blog. On the web Official movie site View the trailer    Trailers require Quicktime Rate 'United 93'   Go see it   Make it a matinee   Wait to rent   Don't bother Voter Limit: Once per Hour View Poll Results

The second question mark is a more complicated issue: Why would anyone want to see this movie?

Surely, no one will go into "United 93" looking for entertainment. And those hoping the picture can wring some uplift out of that day's events are deluding themselves. Rather, what Americans need from the flight's re-enactment can only be compared to what many Christians found in "The Passion of the Christ": a new, visceral way of confronting events that defy rational comprehension.

It's something we can't obtain through vengeful wars, after-the-fact finger-pointing or a snail's-pace search for justice via the trial of Zacarias Moussaoui. All of these are emotionally unsatisfying responses to psyche-shattering events. For some of us, part of the answer might be to step back and take a fresh look.

Where Mel Gibson's approach was solemnly artful, Greengrass offers an off-balance, documentary feel inside his re-created Boeing 757. Rather than craft the getting-to-know-you dialogue and structure that a TV movie might use to mold real people into movie characters, he points his camera at the kind of randomly mundane business of an actual flight. He doesn't introduce us to passengers — if any names are mentioned in the script, they flit by too quickly to note — so much as show them in expectation of a few hours of boredom before the plane lands and their day really starts. When, quite late in the film, the flight is hijacked, the panicked camera seems as unprepared as anyone else. (Though by this point it has witnessed some of the hijackers' preparations.)

Its title notwithstanding, the film is only partly about what went on inside United Flight 93 before it crashed in a Pennsylvania field. It spends the bulk of its time in air-traffic control hubs and military operations centers, where a handful of groups scramble to deal with the events of Sept. 11, 2001.

If Greengrass' scenes inside the airplane are about something beyond docudrama, the harrowing action on the ground has an informational purpose as well. Many viewers may discover for the first time how tragedy was compounded by bureaucracy and failed communication; knowing what we know now, it is infuriating that better procedures weren't in place, that people in these positions didn't have information that could have helped. (As the closing titles inform us, military commanders were not notified that United 93 had been hijacked until four minutes after it crashed.)

At the same time, the film is sympathetic in its depiction of men and women grappling with the near-unthinkable. (Some of the day's real-life participants, most notably FAA operations manager Ben Sliney, play themselves in the film, furthering its documentary feel and helping us understand the extraordinary challenge they faced.)

As in "Bloody Sunday," Greengrass refuses to demonize even those who cause immeasurable pain. The film's first moments are set in a hotel room, where one of the hijackers sits praying on a bed. Uncertainty clouds his face, as it will hours later on the plane.

Allowing that man a shred of humanity does nothing to diminish the suffering he caused, but it works against those who would mythologize 9/11 for their own purposes.

Our memorials to the dead are not yet built, and we may never agree on how to respond to their murder. It's understandable if many see no point to this movie. But for others, this devastating and thoughtful film may be exactly what's needed as we continue the generation-long task of grieving.