“United 93”: Editors, Writers and 9/11 Family Members Speak Out

The movie “United 93” opens in less than three weeks, and it’s certainly on a lot of people’s minds. Families of those on the flight that went down in a Pennsylvania field on 9/11 were given a private screening Saturday in Newark, New Jersey. Los Angeles Times writer Scott Martelle reports that the families lauded “Universal Studios and director Paul Greengrass for what they felt was a realistic re-creation of events whose true details can only be guessed at.” At Slate, the editors have posted an interesting internal e-mail discussion about the controversy over the “United 93” trailer, which at least one New York City theater pulled last week. Meanwhile, at Time, someone (I don’t see a byline) has written a story that covers several 9/11-related movies in the works, goes behind the scenes of “United 93,” and delivers another positive review of the movie.

From Time:

United 93, at which Time was given an exclusive first look, is a good movie—taut and implacable—that honors the deeds of the passengers while being fair, if anyone cares, to the hijackers’ jihad bravado. (At one point the passengers are heard murmuring the Lord’s Prayer while the hijackers whisper their prayers to Allah.) If this is a horror movie, it is an edifying one, a history lesson with the pulse of a world-on-the-line suspense film.

The trailer and a message board are up and running at the movie’s official Web site.

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