Are we ready to see it on the big screen?

On Saturday afternoon I went to see the movie 16 Blocks with my girlfriend. It was a great action flick with an outstanding performance by Mos Def, but that is not the significance of this post.

About halfway through the previews, I was completely taken-aback by the start of a preview that featured the visual of an airport flight-tracking grid that seemed to be depicting something eerily similar to the events of 9/11. It turned out, that's what it was.



The movie is called Flight 93. The trailer was not very telling, mostly omitting any actual film footage except for a small, blurred segment. But the audio told the story. It was filled with air traffic control checks, passenger phone calls to loved ones, talk amongst themselves and screams. And paired with the simple, but chilling digital depiction of the planes changing course on a monitor, it was enough to get your heart racing.

The first thing I thought to myself upon seeing the preview was "holy shit." The events of that tragic day are less than 5 years behind us. The movie comes out in April. Is it too soon? How soon is appropriate? This is the debate that's sure to be all over the media within a few weeks. Given that the movie comes out in April (the 28th is the release date I found upon some research), I couldn't believe I hadn't heard a thing about the film yet.

I'm completely compelled to see this movie. In fact, it's the only situation where I think someone could be moved to tears seeing and hearing a preview, as I almost was. But for how many people is this situation going to be the same? I remember that day as clear as any of my four years of college and maybe as clear as any day of my life. But I was blessed enough not to suffer the loss of any family member or friend, or anyone I knew for that matter. Many people were not.

As intrigued as I was by the preview, the first thing I did when I got home was jump online and do some research on the film background. Somehow I had missed this New York Times article that was published on January 1st (though I can imagine why I was not reading any newspapers that day). From this article, I not only learned more about Flight 93, I found that there are three other films in the works with storylines related to 9/11, including a picture by Oliver Stone. Not only is this arguably going to be too early, it could be too much.

The question must arise whether Hollywood studios are capitalizing off of America's pain, or if there are just too many Producers/Directors with a desire to show the world these events in a different way and spread larger messages. There isn't much information on the other three films yet, but I can tell you that Flight 93 fits the latter. The movie is being directed by Paul Greengrass, best known for directing The Bourne Supremacy and the less well-known, but more intention-showing Bloody Sunday, a 2002 movie that depicted the 1972 incident in which 13 unarmed civil rights demonstrators were killed by British soldiers in Londonderry, Northern Ireland.

Upon reading even further, and discovering this website devoted to the movie, I am convinced that Mr. Greengrass is serious about magnifying the true story of what the individuals on that plane experienced, and creating a dialogue about how these people were really the first conversation in how to deal with terrorist attacks in our modern world. According to the website, the movie "tells the story of the day through a meticulous re-enactment of events surrounding United 93, the last of the four hijacked aircraft, in the belief that by examining this single event something much larger can be found - the shape of our world today." The film run in real-time of the 90 minute flight with phone calls to loved ones and conversations between passengers, pilots, etc. being as authentic as possible. That being possible from the two dozen phone calls and 30 minutes of cockpit recordings that stand as the only true records of the events.

I'm preparing myself for an intense, emotion-wrenching viewing experience. Will you be going to see it? (View the teaser trailer here)

Speaking of movies, I just got done watching the Oscars. If it wasn't so inappropriate this would be an easy time to make a joke about a looming Armageddon after members of Three 6 Mafia won an Academy Award for "Best Original Song."