United 93 (2006)
While in the Air Force, we were taught that many of our mistakes during times of war, were due to communication errors. Whether the error is between armed branches, officers, officers to enlisted, or whatever other combinations you can think of, one mishap will result in dead people. United 93 is not just about the men and women of the doomed flight, but also of the men and women working frantically trying to figure out what was going on in the sky of September 11th, 2001. In a sense, it is more about FEMA, Air Force, Air Traffic Controllers, and the US Government in general, than it is about what is going on in the hijacked airliners.
We all know the story - we lived and breathed it 5+ years ago. But what I didn’t know was how those in power were trying to respond to the threat in the sky. I didn’t know the Air Force, though they had authorization to engage, didn’t due to fear of bad press. I didn’t know that during the state of emergency, the relay of information and commands to key individuals took hours. I didn’t know a lot of things - and United 93 brought them to light.
To be honest, United 93 is not particularly well made. There were some scenes that got slow, especially the back and forth of tracking the planes in the flight tower… but the story is undeniable. It’s a movie that must be watched, because it’s a version of what may have happened based from what is known about the flight — and we owe it to them to watch the movie then give a moment of silence to remember what had happened.