UNITED 93

You will not leave UNITED 93 untouched. Paul Greengrass’ docudrama is tense, emotionally powerful and brilliantly realistic as it portrays the Flight 93 passengers, the terrorists, flight controllers and military personnel facing the attacks of September 11, 2001.

The film’s strength is also its burden. It recreates a national trauma without much patriotic fanfare, and its realistic violence, strong language and sustained tension may be too upsetting for many viewers. It also places the terrorists’ prayers beside the passengers’ prayers, creating a moral and spiritual equivalence that requires discernment.

If you are an adult ready to revisit 9/11 and able to withstand the film’s intensity, it is worth seeing. For family viewing, especially with children or young teens, choose something else.

UNITED 93 follows the passengers and crew of a hijacked flight on September 11, as well as the flight controllers and military personnel trying to understand the unfolding attacks.

The film opens with the terrorists preparing for jihad. Once the hijacking begins and news arrives that other planes have struck the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, the passengers realize this is no ordinary hijacking. Several men begin gathering courage to fight back.

Four stars means this is exceptional filmmaking, and UNITED 93 earns that rating through its tense, emotionally powerful realism. Greengrass presents the events on the plane and in the flight controller rooms and military headquarters with a brilliant, documentary-like intensity.

The film is not designed as patriotic pageantry. Instead, it offers a strong, mostly positive portrayal of Americans in crisis while allowing the terror and confusion of the day to remain painful and immediate. Its realism makes the experience powerful, but also deeply disturbing.

UNITED 93 presents a strong moral worldview about Americans responding to an Islamic terrorist attack. The passengers’ courage, their concern for one another and their willingness to act in crisis are treated positively. The film also includes recitations of and references to the Lord’s Prayer.

But the film does not explicitly rebuke the false religion of Islam, and it places the terrorists’ prayers alongside the passengers’ prayers. That choice can create a troubling moral and spiritual equivalence. The name of Jesus is used as a profanity, while positive references to Jesus are absent apart from a couple passengers praying the Lord’s Prayer. The film’s closing explanation also uses the word “finally” when describing Vice President Cheney’s authorization concerning military planes, introducing a partisan note after an otherwise politically non-partisan portrayal.

The film’s central question is how people respond in a moment of terrible crisis. Scripture says, “God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble” (Psalm 46:1).

UNITED 93 is brilliantly made and intensely moving, but its realistic violence, strong language and spiritual confusion make it unsuitable for children and young teens. Adults prepared to revisit 9/11 may find its courage and moral seriousness worthwhile. Our answer is WORTH THE TRIP — ADULTS ONLY. For family viewing, see.