United 93
(we shall never forget)
I just finished watching the movie "United 93".
This isn't the first time I've seen it. For some reason I really wanted to see it when it came out, as opposed to the "World Trade Center", which I never wanted to see. Maybe I intrinsically got a sense that United 93 was better; maybe it was because, on the day of September 11th and 12th and 13th and all those days afterward, I always wanted to hear more about United Flight 93. The article about it in Time the week afterward - a huge section - was one of the most riveting things I've experienced in a long time.
Watching the movie was re-living that article.
There's something amazing about the information that comes up when you hit the Info button on the remote. It gives you the name at the beginning, and a description at the end. But in between it ranks the movie, from 1 star to 4 stars. Only four options; you don't get to choose two-and-a-half-stars. And there's no word on how they came up with this, whether there are votes, discussions, and who is making these choices, or its just the opinion of the one person who happened to code it in. But, oddly, the stars almost always seem accurate.
The Info button gives United 93 four stars.
I didn't mean to watch this. I was turning channels, and happened to land on it, just as American 11 starts acting weird. I only watched for five or six seconds. That was at 11:30 or so. It's now past 1.
There are many amazing things about the movie, not the least of which include the amazingly objective portrayal of each side of the conflict - I once read a review that said the scenes of both the passengers and terrorists praying fervently at the same time was extremely powerful, and I agree - as well as the absolute attention to detail and truth. All the quotes that stuck in my mind from the article were there, right down to "Break down the door. If we don't get in, we'll all die!" that you can just hear over the din and the madness of the final five minutes of the movie, all taken from actual transcripts and phone calls and black boxes and everything else we know about that harrowing time. We saw The Happening yesterday, and it wasn't good, but it tried to be frightening.
It is nowhere near as frightening as United 93. My heart races like being backed into a corner and surrounded by men with knives.
Apt, that.
What really sticks out for me the most - both the first time I watched it, and now - is the amazing sense of inevitable death, and how people react to it. You get all kinds of reactions, from denial, to total incoherency, to emotion, to stoic resolve, to anger, to determination, to righteous fear. The bravery that these people showed in their last moments... its unthinkable. My stomach clenches and my mind wants to shut off when I put myself in that position, but I won't let it. They died, as did all the members of those four highjacked planes, but they died fighting for their lives despite the hopeless odds, died in an abandoned little field in Pennsylvania, instead of the White House. Died on their terms, not someone else's.
The military didn't know that United 93 had been highjacked until 4 minutes after it crashed. The nearest fighter jets were 100 miles away.
They died heroes.
I lay here at night and think, 'Can I meet my end in that way?' Whether being hit by a car and feeling my life seep out into the gritty pavement, or having my throat slit and have a few agonizing seconds as blood no longer flows to my brain and everything fades to black, or at the end of a long disease, ravaged by pain and weakened to a rancid shell of my former self, I have had time to wonder. None of those people were ready. I have had my lifetime to prepare.
Most terrifying of all, one day I will be faced with the choice of choosing - really choosing - between what is right, and what is easy.
Can I do that if my life might be the cost?
Can I do that if I know that my life is the cost?
Those are questions that I am still trying to answer. But I think of them because of you. We shall never forget. And thank you.
I just finished watching the movie "United 93".
This isn't the first time I've seen it. For some reason I really wanted to see it when it came out, as opposed to the "World Trade Center", which I never wanted to see. Maybe I intrinsically got a sense that United 93 was better; maybe it was because, on the day of September 11th and 12th and 13th and all those days afterward, I always wanted to hear more about United Flight 93. The article about it in Time the week afterward - a huge section - was one of the most riveting things I've experienced in a long time.
Watching the movie was re-living that article.
There's something amazing about the information that comes up when you hit the Info button on the remote. It gives you the name at the beginning, and a description at the end. But in between it ranks the movie, from 1 star to 4 stars. Only four options; you don't get to choose two-and-a-half-stars. And there's no word on how they came up with this, whether there are votes, discussions, and who is making these choices, or its just the opinion of the one person who happened to code it in. But, oddly, the stars almost always seem accurate.
The Info button gives United 93 four stars.
I didn't mean to watch this. I was turning channels, and happened to land on it, just as American 11 starts acting weird. I only watched for five or six seconds. That was at 11:30 or so. It's now past 1.
There are many amazing things about the movie, not the least of which include the amazingly objective portrayal of each side of the conflict - I once read a review that said the scenes of both the passengers and terrorists praying fervently at the same time was extremely powerful, and I agree - as well as the absolute attention to detail and truth. All the quotes that stuck in my mind from the article were there, right down to "Break down the door. If we don't get in, we'll all die!" that you can just hear over the din and the madness of the final five minutes of the movie, all taken from actual transcripts and phone calls and black boxes and everything else we know about that harrowing time. We saw The Happening yesterday, and it wasn't good, but it tried to be frightening.
It is nowhere near as frightening as United 93. My heart races like being backed into a corner and surrounded by men with knives.
Apt, that.
What really sticks out for me the most - both the first time I watched it, and now - is the amazing sense of inevitable death, and how people react to it. You get all kinds of reactions, from denial, to total incoherency, to emotion, to stoic resolve, to anger, to determination, to righteous fear. The bravery that these people showed in their last moments... its unthinkable. My stomach clenches and my mind wants to shut off when I put myself in that position, but I won't let it. They died, as did all the members of those four highjacked planes, but they died fighting for their lives despite the hopeless odds, died in an abandoned little field in Pennsylvania, instead of the White House. Died on their terms, not someone else's.
The military didn't know that United 93 had been highjacked until 4 minutes after it crashed. The nearest fighter jets were 100 miles away.
They died heroes.
I lay here at night and think, 'Can I meet my end in that way?' Whether being hit by a car and feeling my life seep out into the gritty pavement, or having my throat slit and have a few agonizing seconds as blood no longer flows to my brain and everything fades to black, or at the end of a long disease, ravaged by pain and weakened to a rancid shell of my former self, I have had time to wonder. None of those people were ready. I have had my lifetime to prepare.
Most terrifying of all, one day I will be faced with the choice of choosing - really choosing - between what is right, and what is easy.
Can I do that if my life might be the cost?
Can I do that if I know that my life is the cost?
Those are questions that I am still trying to answer. But I think of them because of you. We shall never forget. And thank you.
Labels: Life-Changing Events
posted by Mat | 1:04 AM
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