Z/Web

At first I had no interest at seeing this film. Who wants to relive 9/11? But then I heard there was “controversy” and people trying to stop the release of the film. That flabberghasted me. What on earth could be wrong with making a film like this? After all, it’s not political — it’s just a dramatization of the facts. So I went to see it. The first surprise was the Regal theatre I went to, which usually annoys me with 20 minutes of commercials and previews before the movie starts, had a sign up that said that due to this film’s topic, they were not showing any previews and the film would start on time! Very interesting, though I wish they’d communicated that before I got there. Fortunately, I was right on time, so I don’t think I missed more than few seconds.

The film itself is very good. It just tells a simple story well. However, because it focuses so much on that story, told in real-time, the film feels one-dimensional. We basically see the flight controllers and the passengers, but we only see them in their roles, not who they are in their personal lives. There’s nothing wrong with that — but it does lead to a narrow, focused film, which some people may not be happy with. It’s not a pleasant film, as we know the outcome before the movie starts, but it is an important film (everyone should see it once), and I liked that the story reminds of 9/11 and what happened on that day. I really liked that they actually show the towers burning, the airplane crashing into the tower, the shocked reactions of the air traffic controllers. So much of that is not shown on TV any more and people forget what that day was like.