“You must not lose faith in humanity. Humanity is an ocean; if a few drops of the ocean are dirty, the ocean does not become dirty.”
Mahatma Gandhi
This week I am going to deviate from my usual format. I saw United 93 yesterday and I feel a need to write about it. United 93 is a good movie. I thought it was tastefully presented and it did not deviate too far from known facts. If you are looking for a documentary, don’t go to see this movie. If are looking for a story about what happen on flight United 93, then I recommend seeing this movie. I am not saying that the movie is a completely accurate depiction of what happen on flight United 93 on September 11, 2001. The movie did seem to fill in some scenes that were not in the 911 report. Those filled in scenes did make sense and did seem to be plausible. As I said earlier, it is a good story, but make sure you are ready to see it.
First I must state that I am not a knee jerk pseudo patriot that wears a flag on my shirt or my car but does not keep the values of this country in my heart. I am also not someone that has been accused of being a particularly sensitive person. And I am not sure that I am qualified to weigh in on the appropriateness of the making and distributing of this film since I am blessed enough not to have lost a loved one on that flight. With all that said, I must admit that watching United 93 left me with several emotions.
During the movie I moved from a feeling of curiosity to empathy to anger. I was curious about how United 93 would be presented. I heard the different opinions about the appropriateness of the timing of the making of the movie so I wanted to see it for myself. I didn’t realize how many emotions the movie would evoke from me. I knew it would be a heavy movie. I knew that the people that were on board United 93 died. I knew the movie was not going to be some feel good action movie. However, I did not know that the movie would touch a part of my humanity. The fact that I lived through September 11, 2001 in the District of Columbia and it was being replayed on the big screen did not bother me. I did not have any flashbacks of the anxiety that I felt as I heard the fighter planes (at least I assumed they were fighter planes) fly over head every fifteen minutes on September 11, 2001. I did not relive the rage of seeing the twin towers collapse in my mind. What affected me the most about this movie were the little all important personal details that were tossed off during the small talk in the movie by the actors that were playing real people that died on United 93.
I was struck by the realness of the people that were being portrayed. I was touched by the realization that the movie was about a real tragedy visited upon real people, not unlike myself and my family, that have loved ones that are still dealing with their loss. Sometimes when you hear about tragic stories it is easy to feel bad for a second and forget that these stories involve real people. Sometimes it is so easy just to see the names on the evening news or in the newspapers and forget that those names represent real people with real families and loved ones. Sometimes it is so easy to forget that those names represent people who had their own life stories and that those stories were cut short. I saw actors portraying real people talking about their children, their parents, their spouses, their brothers and sisters. I saw actors portraying real people that got onto a flight expecting to go to the west coast. They were talking about all the things they were looking forward to doing once they reached their destinations. I saw a movie where actors portrayed people like me, like my mother, like my brother, like my sisters, like my children, like my wife, like my mother-in-law, like my father-in-law, like my sisters-in-law, like my uncles, like my aunts, and like my cousins. I have seen movies that depicted tragedies or lost battles that occurred in real life, but never had I gone to a movie where the tragedy was so close in time. I am not sure when it hit me, but some time during the movie it hit me that that could have been me or someone I love being portrayed on that screen. The actors and actresses played real living breathing people that had families, that had friends, that had plans, that had dreams, that had regrets, that had been born, and now are no longer with us.
During the movie I must admit that I felt a sense of anger that grew into a need for revenge. My wife and I took a little walk after the movie to let out feelings that the movie evoked. During our walk I thought about how anger blinds the human race sometimes. I thought about how it is that very blindness that can push us to do things that are horrific. It can send us down a path that devalues the lives of the people that we hate. It is along that path that we eventually devalue of ourselves. I thought about how the human emotions of anger and hatred can strip us of our own humanity if we are not careful. Once we allow ourselves to lose touch with our humanity that is when pain is spread out to the masses. United 93 is a good movie. It tells a story. Before you go to see the movie make certain that you are ready to experience it.
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