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United 93 - A Look Inside

Universal has released a new featurette-style preview of United 93, available on Apple's movie trailer site (as is the original preview).

It features a short interview with writer/director Paul Greengrass, addressing the increasingly debated issue of the timing of the film and the impact of the project on the victims' families.  Having met with many of them, Greengrass reports they were unanimous in wanting the movie to be made (some becoming involved in the project themselves).

As far as the arguments that it's "too soon", that the movie is a financial exploiting of a tragedy, or that it's just too much for people to handle, that's poppycock.  It can't be "too soon" if people have become so desensitized to the threat of terrorism that a Patriot Act extension can be filibustered (temporarily anyway) to the elation of many, if the notion of real border security is viewed as racist as often as rational, or if the surveilling of terrorists is a hot button issue.  It seems like the timing couldn't be better for an accurate and visceral reminder.

Is it financial exploitation?  Well, it will indeed make money.  But so do TV shows about 9/11.  So do news channels that report on the war on terror.  So did whatever paper company supplied the Homeland Security Department with its new business cards.  There's a demand to see this movie.  Universal made it.  Lots of people are going to be willing to pay them for their efforts.  The mechanics of commerce, it would seem, are upheld, even in the face of tragedy.

Is it too much for us to handle?  Well, it certainly won't be a movie for young children.  But anyone who doesn't want to see it has a relatively simple recourse.  Here's a hint: they get to keep their $10.

I for one am eager to see it.  I fully expect to be uncomfortably disquieted by it (which I suppose is part of the point), but I'm also interested to see just how well we've been able to definitively recreate the timeline, based on phone calls, data recorders, etc.

The trailer closes with an appeal to consider donating to the Flight 93 National Memorial Fund.

"A common field one day. A field of honor forever."

May all who visit this place remember the collective acts of courage and sacrifice of the passengers and crew, revere this hallowed ground as the final resting place of those heroes, and reflect on the power of individuals who choose to make a difference.

- Captain Stephen Ruda, Los Angeles City Fire Department

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United 93 - A Look Inside

Universal has released a new featurette-style preview of United 93, available on Apple's movie trailer site (as is the original preview).

It features a short interview with writer/director Paul Greengrass, addressing the increasingly debated issue of the timing of the film and the impact of the project on the victims' families.  Having met with many of them, Greengrass reports they were unanimous in wanting the movie to be made (some becoming involved in the project themselves).

As far as the arguments that it's "too soon", that the movie is a financial exploiting of a tragedy, or that it's just too much for people to handle, that's poppycock.  It can't be "too soon" if people have become so desensitized to the threat of terrorism that a Patriot Act extension can be filibustered (temporarily anyway) to the elation of many, if the notion of real border security is viewed as racist as often as rational, or if the surveilling of terrorists is a hot button issue.  It seems like the timing couldn't be better for an accurate and visceral reminder.

Is it financial exploitation?  Well, it will indeed make money.  But so do TV shows about 9/11.  So do news channels that report on the war on terror.  So did whatever paper company supplied the Homeland Security Department with its new business cards.  There's a demand to see this movie.  Universal made it.  Lots of people are going to be willing to pay them for their efforts.  The mechanics of commerce, it would seem, are upheld, even in the face of tragedy.

Is it too much for us to handle?  Well, it certainly won't be a movie for young children.  But anyone who doesn't want to see it has a relatively simple recourse.  Here's a hint: they get to keep their $10.

I for one am eager to see it.  I fully expect to be uncomfortably disquieted by it (which I suppose is part of the point), but I'm also interested to see just how well we've been able to definitively recreate the timeline, based on phone calls, data recorders, etc.

The trailer closes with an appeal to consider donating to the Flight 93 National Memorial Fund.

"A common field one day. A field of honor forever."

May all who visit this place remember the collective acts of courage and sacrifice of the passengers and crew, revere this hallowed ground as the final resting place of those heroes, and reflect on the power of individuals who choose to make a difference.

- Captain Stephen Ruda, Los Angeles City Fire Department