The Hindu : Karnataka / Bangalore News : Superb piece of realism

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Sunday, Sep 10, 2006
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Karnataka

Karnataka - Bangalore

Superb piece of realism

United 93 (English)

Director: Paul Greengrass

Cast: Christian Clemenson, Trish Gates, Ben Sliney

Considering the kind of sugary and jingoistic treatment that Hollywood normally gives to tragic events in American history, much of the wariness that greeted Paul Greengrass's United 93 is justified. At the outset, however, Greengrass proves himself more than up to the task, drawing on the wealth of experience he has gained from other fact-based films such as Bloody Sunday to create a sensitive, masterful and remarkably accurate picture of the events between take-off and crash of the United Airlines Flight 93 after passengers to retake control of the plane.

Indeed, United 93 is an excellent example of the manner in which a number of wise choices must come together to create a great film. The casting team chooses to stay away from the big names of Hollywood, choosing to work with relatively-unknown actors or, for on-ground personnel and so on, casting real-life professionals who were involved in the actual event. And, for this choice, they are rewarded with a number of restrained, unselfish performances. The scripting is as close to reality as possible with no rousing patriotic speeches, and even the landmark, "Let's roll" comes so matter-of-factly that it almost passes by unnoticed.

Rakesh Mehar

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