“United 93” (2006) dir. Paul Greengrass

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I can completely understand why anyone would not want to watch this film. But please, don’t dismiss this as an exploitation film. Paul Greengrass’s “United 93” is an extremely intense, but respectful approximation of what happened on United flight 93 on September 11, 2001. So far, it is the best non-documentary film about what happened on that day and it’s the only film that brought me back to what it felt like on that day when it seemed like the entire world was falling apart. While I’m happy Scorsese finally got his Oscar for Best Director for “The Departed” in 2006 (a truly great film), he really should have won it for “Raging Bull” or “Goodfellas.” Greengrass should have won for Best Director that year (he was nominated). This is a film that won a lot of acclaim when it was released, but is almost forgotten about these days … maybe because most people don’t want to watch it.  But seriously, “United 93” is a very respectful, non-sensational film about the events on 9/11, even though it’s admittedly a very difficult film to watch.