Flight 93

Flight 93 is a thinly fictionalized documentary-like account of United Airlines Flight 93, hijacked on September 11, 2001, by terrorists who apparently intended to crash it into the U. S. Capitol building or the White House, thereby contributing to the disastrous attacks of that day. Passengers on the plane thwarted the terrorists by rushing the cockpit and forced them to crash the plane. All on board was killed, but further disaster in Washington was averted.

The film takes a highly objective approach to its subject. This does not mean that it does not have a point of view—it does—but it does mean that the film, directed and written by Paul Greengrass, presents the events of that day in highly dramatic form, often relying on transcripts of cell phone exchanges, cockpit dialogue, and other records. Clearly some events depicted in the film—the last minutes aboard the flight—are recreated in a speculative way, but the film is cautious and conservative. It narrates events from the point of view of the crew and passengers aboard Flight 93, the terrorists, and the flight controllers and military personnel who tracked the development of events on that day. Although from the beginning the viewer will know the outcome, Greengrass actually usually this foreknowledge to his adventure, building pressure and tension as scene after scene lead towards those events that the viewer knows will occur: the hijacking of planes, the ominous radio messages, the takeover of the United flight, the killings of certain crew members, and the final struggle.

The film does not sentimentalize or eulogize or heroicize participants in the events. It does its best to trace in what I take to be real time the course of events as they developed. We see the preparations of the terrorists, the normal routines of the flight crew and flight controllers, the behavior of the passengers as they board the flight. The terrorists are not demonized. The film portrays them as human beings committed to a particular course of action which proves to be, as events transpire, horrific and brutal. In showing the preparations of passengers to rush the hijackers and try to prevent another terrorist act, the film does not over-exaggerate what they are doing. They’re trying to save themselves, of course, but also trying to prevent a brutal act against the United States that will result in loss of life and damage to the nation.

Especially moving are the scenes that show passengers in the last moments of the plane’s flight calling friends and family to say goodbye. These scenes could have been histrionic and overly emotional, but the film sticks to its essential strategy of showing in a documentary way what happened (based in this case on transcripts of the phone calls). The scenes are straightforward and genuinely heart wrenching as a result.

A few faintly familiar faces appear among the actors in this film, but none are well known. We see the actors as the characters they’re playing rather than as name actors playing their roles. No character in particular receives a lot of screen time, nor does the film make a point of naming characters—they’re crew members, passengers, flight controllers—all caught up in the events. It’s better, really, that most of them remain anonymous.

The film ends at the instant the plane crashes into the ground in Somerset County, near Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The screen goes black, and then a few messages appear explaining that all abroad Flight 93 were killed and noting (ironically) that flight controllers didn’t even recognize Flight 93 as a hijacked plane until minutes after it had crashed.

The film has two themes. One is the heroism of the many people caught up in these events. The film in that sense is testimony to Hemingway’s description of courage as “grace under pressure.” The other theme concerns how the FAA and the military responded to the crisis. We see diligent efforts to respond, but a wholly inadequate response system. Lack of communication, confusing communication, poor training, an increasing sense of helplessness as controllers identify hijacked planes (sometimes in error) and watch the planes hit the World Trade Center. The film suggests that the United States infrastructure was in no way prepared to respond to the disasters of September 11, 2001.

This film is superior to Oliver Stone’s World Trade Center, a film that had merits. That film concerned the struggle for survival of two men caught up in a disaster. The context was the collapse of the WTT buildings, but it could easily have been any other context: a sinking ship, a collapsed coal mine, an earthquake. The context of Flight 93 could have been nothing else than what it was. There has been no other event in American history like it, and that is really one of the points of the film, and one of the many lessons to be taken from the events of September 11.