United 93.

A couple of months ago, on a night much like this, I saw "United 93". At the end of its riveting 2 hours, I remember being left speechless and shocked. It's kind of hard to describe as to which category of feature films "United 93" belongs. It has the feel and sound of a documentary - yet it's not a documentary, neither is it a movie (at least not in the traditional sense of the word "movie"). "United 93" is rather like a hybrid of those two. And to successfully pull off such a hybrid requires direction of the kind Paul Greengrass seems to be a master in. The wide eyes, slightly open mouth and spasm of shock and sadness on one's face while watching the movie are perhaps evidence enough of Greengrass's mastery. In fact, "United 93" is so gripping and involving that during most of the film I felt like I was physically present inside that plane and that I was observing the events not on an LCD screen but face-to-face. I felt tension and horror when the first of the hijackers jumped up with a shout of "Allah-ho-Akbar!" and stabbed the American passenger sitting in front of him and while all 4 of the hijackers started taking on the plane - with two stabbing the captain and the co-captain to death and taking the controls, one acting as a suicide-bomber and threatening to press the trigger the second anyone tried to retaliate, and another one shouting and yelling to those who dared talk.

Shocked to the core themselves, the crew-members helplessly tried to assure the passengers that everything was going to be alright; and other crew-members tried to haltingly reason with the hijackers to let the on-board doctor take a look at the American who had been stabbed and provide him first-aid. While many desperately called their families and loved ones through their seat phones, some tried to comfort each other with words of courage and warmth. Amidst all this, a few tried to weave together a plan to overcome the hijackers - they began by gathering together things that could be used as "weapons" and grouping together men brave enough to charge the hijackers. They found someone who could fly the plane and someone who was sure that the bomb wielded by one of the hijackers was a fake. Finally, they charged. First, they took down the 2 hijackers that were present in the cabin area and proceeded on to break open the control room's door and pull the 3rd hijacker off the controls - eventually crashing the plane in an empty field in Pennsylvania. The plane did not crash where the hijackers intended it to. And no one survived the crash.

Just watch the trailer. You will feel the tension.

-| AG.