New at BOP: Review: Matrix Resurrections Movie Review: Moonfall Movie Reviews: Scream The #1 Movie in America November Forecast The Many Saints of Newark October Forecast New Trivia Question All site updates Share & Save   Tweet Print this column

What the Movie Got Wrong or Speculated

As I’ve stated before, the only people who could have confirmed what really happened on board are all gone. It is impossible to know exactly what did or didn’t happen. The movie had to indulge in some dramatization.

At the outset of the movie, we see the hijackers praying in their hotel room. Although this is not outright false, there is no way the filmmakers could have known exactly what they did that morning. And although there was a lot of research done for United 93, the film was finished before a transcript of the cockpit voice recording was released. This means those scenes had to be at the very least somewhat fabricated. In fact, they were mostly improvised by the cast.

Another possible inconsistency of the film is that it shows that the pilots were killed immediately after the hijackers take over the plane. But the transcript of the cockpit voice recorder tape, as well as moans heard in the background inside the cockpit meant they might not have died as early as the movie depicts. There is also evidence that suggests the passengers didn’t make it as far into the cockpit as the movie suggests. The movie depicts various passengers physically struggling with the hijacker flying the plane and this led to the crash. But it’s been reported that the hijacker crashed the plane because he knew the passengers were seconds away from reaching the cockpit.

The biggest and most confounding concession to drama has to be in the way the movie portrays a German passenger named Christian Adams. Adams, aged 37, was the Deputy Director of the German Wine Institute and director of its export department. He had a wife and two children and was flying to San Francisco for a wine-tasting event to showcase the 2000 vintages.

By all accounts, Adams was just like every other passenger on that flight but the movie portrays him in a chilling light that seems to be a product or concession to the xenophobia tinged overzealous national pride that rose from the ashes of the 9/11 attacks. For a lot of people, rational and logical commentary took a backseat to the “if you’re not with us, you’re against us” mentality. It was this way of thinking that got Bill Maher fired for making comments that, while insensitive, weren’t ridiculous or anti American like people took them.

The most important thing to take away from this horrible tragedy is not the action of the hijackers but the fact that the passengers were brave enough to fight back. Their actions prevented the hijackers from succeeding. Because the plane crashed in a field, it prevented the loss of more lives and damage to the nation’s capital and spirit. By all accounts, those passengers died heroes and there is no reason to believe or evidence that shows Adams was not among them. But United 93 not only portrays him as the only passenger who wanted to appease to the hijackers but if the movie is to be believed, the American passengers had to actually physically restrain them so they could step forward and act heroically.

Continued:       1       2       3       4