Few can have thrilled to the appearance of a promotional film poster with a tagline reading - September 11th, 2001. Four planes are hijacked. Three of them reached their target. This is the story of the one that didn’t.
If anything, the potential for disaster seemed to mirror the inevitable narrative trajectory. The seismic events of that day have, to date, often been poorly served by multiple media. Sadly, a great deal of our understanding is mediated through what can only be described as 9/11 porn.
The late Todd Beamer, who led the charge of passengers with the words, "Let’s roll" has become, quite literally, a license to print money. His widow has since trademarked the catch phrase and it can currently be found on t-shirts at Wal-Mart, the Florida State University football kit and in a Neil Young song. Fox News and patriots, meanwhile, are apt to use the aircraft brought down in Pennsylvania as a handy reminder of ‘Why We Are At War’.
Paul Greengrass’ film, United 93, seems then, to have achieved the impossible. When the film premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival in April, it was acclaimed across the rather bipolar American political landscape. Lefty liberal types were taken with Mr. Greengrass’ sensitivity. The families of victims were entirely satisfied. Even right-wingers, such as Rush Limbaugh have made approving noises.
But just which of these disparate demographics was the intended audience? All of them, says Mr. Greengrass.
“If Rush Limbaugh had been the only person who loved the film, I might have been troubled,” laughs the director, himself a vocal opponent of the war in Iraq. “But with the single exception of one critic who didn’t like it (likely Alex Cox), it has had an unbelievably positive response. It has been treated with good will across the spectrum almost like a mirror. Wherever you stand on all the issues that passionately divide us determines your response to the film. It all goes back to 9/11. I wanted to make a film that would tell each side of the story as they saw it, but would, in turn, profoundly challenge each position. For instance, if, broadly speaking, you think the way to deal with this is to get the bad guys first before they do, then you accept what happens but you can’t avoid how graphic it is in this film. Equally, if you take the view that we should not confront anyone as it will create more problems, your position is challenged by the bravery of these people.”
Opposing truths? That sounds awfully like dialectical thinking.
“Er, yes, but I don’t think we’re allowed to use those words anymore. I do think of it as a terrible tragedy – I mean, what could be more tragic than innocent people going about their business having this happen to them. But I also think of that flight as a perfect political metaphor. For the very brave men and women on that flight, they were limited to two options - sit there and die or fight back and die. It’s not much of a choice but in the aftermath of their tragedy, we have more choices available to us. Some of them will require us to emulate their bravery. That’s what the film is really saying. They knew about the World Trade Centre. They were the first people to face the post 9/11 world. We have to show courage and confront to our difficult post 9/11 choices.”
Since cutting his teeth on the World In Action series, Mr. Greengrass has become a palpable political presence in cinema, lending his distinctively raw verite to reconstructions of Bloody Sunday and Omagh. Deeply contemplative and ridiculously relaxed, in person, he couldn’t be less like an angry old Trot. Only a vast greying mane seems to fit with his frenzied pro-active cinema.
Where Bloody Sunday and Omagh sought to meticulously reconstruct historical events, United 93 is a curious hybrid. Without recourse to the nutty internet theories that speak of mysterious fighter jets in the area or reduce the entire episode to an elaborate Freemason fiction, much of the action is doomed to be purely speculative.
Still, having utilised air traffic control reports, precise accounts of the plane’s position, final sobbing phone calls made to the ground and over one hundred interviews with relatives and officials, Mr. Greengrass is confident he has his facts right.
“We can never be entirely sure what happened,” he nods. “My primary source was the 9/11 commission report and then the families. The families are very clear-headed about the events that day. Their recollections are vivid and not contaminated in the way you might suppose. What you find when you talk to them – and I found something similar with the Bloody Sunday and Omagh families – is a marked absence of thirst for revenge. Instead you find dignity and wisdom because after their loss those people really ask themselves about the crucial issues. Why has this happened and what are we going to do about it? The rest of us don’t really want to get into those questions because we are too busy waiting for the World Cup.”
Despite the input from families, United 93 never succumbs to sentiment. By casting unknowns to essay the fated passengers and including small personal details and mannerisms, Mr. Greengrass has recreated the flight with an unusually unnerving humanity.
“Well, that’s very much what I wanted to do,” he says. “9/11 is important. It is the dominating event of our lives. It drives all our politics today in the US and Europe. It drives our choices and events in the wider world. I wanted to have a say about it. I resent the appropriation of the event, particularly by politicians. 'Let’s Roll' became a political slogan. What I wanted to do was to give it back to those people. I have no doubt Todd Beamer was not issuing a political rallying cry.”