I'm just home from the 'plex, where I spent a claustrophobic hour and
a half living through the last flight of "United 93." By this time, it
will come as no surprise that this is one of the most astonishing
pieces of movie-making of all time. (FAA operations manager Ben
Sliney, who plays himself as the man who shut down American airspace
after the third plane/missile struck the Pentagon, should win the
Oscar as the best supporting actor of 2006.) It should be seen by
everyone over the age of 15, and on the big screen.

Oddly, it was the first half-hour that impressed me the most.
(Well--impressed! It was more like being hit beside the head with a
brick.) The sense of doom over that slender gray metal tube was so
overpowering that I found it hard to breathe. I returned to earth
during the actual hijack, perhaps because at that point it was at its
most fictional: who knows what happened? Then there is the final
half-hour, in which the passengers rebel and the plane goes out of
control, and again the reality overwhelmed me.

See this movie. There will never be another like it--I hope.

-- all the best, Dan Ford

email: usenet AT danford DOT net

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