No, it's not an oversimplification to say so. And you're a fool to think otherwise. You either understand what western civilization is facing or you don't. It's either them or us. It's black or white. There is no grey.
United 93 draws the proverbial line in the sand and you're either on the side of the heroic passengers or you're on the side of the Islamists who turned our lives upside down on 9/11. To try to complicate things is to obfuscate them. The movie paints the picture clearly.
It begins simply and ominously.
Morning prayer rituals. Ceremonial washing and shaving. The hijackers methodically and calmly preparing themselves.
Gradually the scene shifts and the victims are introduced.
You're lulled into the normal as you overhear snippets of conversations. The pilots speaking of future plans with the wife or a baby that has begun to sleep through the night. The stewardesses chatting about boring magazines or whether there's enough sugar on the flight. The passengers leisurely eating fruit or clicking away on their laptops. All of them doomed.
And then back to the hijackers. Something other than wide-eyed-frothing-at-the-mouth-fanatical-madmen. Which of course is the point. They know what they're doing, They're purposeful about it. They're committed. Are we?
Then there's the foreboding closing of the airplane doors as they ready to pull away from the gate. The heart begins to pound harder. The palms of your hands now wet with nervous anticipation. You know how this ends.
Those who see this movie as exploitive are simply wrong. Those who believe it's too soon more so. To say such things is to play into the hands of those who want us dead. We are at war. The movie tells us why. It's good to be reminded.
On the way in to the movie we bump into our neighbors. They're on their way out and ask us what we're going to see. I chuckle aloud and say we're going to see the movie that will further divide this country.
A throw away line meant to be funny.
UPDATE: Smash relives United 93's final moments. A must read.
United 93 reminded me of 911 in my present and future. I cheer for Todd Beamer et al now. But I visualize muslim theatres'audiences cheering for the pius murderers who killed our countrymen on 911.
The world is as small as a 757 when nuts have nukes instead of knives. WE are on the plane with Zarquawi, Ahmadinejad, Hamas, and I.Q Khan.
If we don't kill them, they will surely kill us. They don't want to ransom our plane, they want to crash it.
Posted by: jdf | Saturday, May 06, 2006 at 03:40 PM