United 93

• Directed by Paul Greengrass
• Starring Polly Adams, Nancy McDoniel, Susan Blommaert, Ray Charleson
• Director Greengrass chose not to choose any well-known actors for this movie, which is a very risky decision. Usually when tragic events are adapted into movies, the temptation is to create central characters with interesting backgrounds for the audience to relate to. There are no such characters here, but this ends up working well for this movie. When you see nameless passengers desperately trying to survive, the impact is much more real and traumatic than seeing A-list actors pretending to die. Perhaps because of this, the movie side-steps the usual trap of making the main characters sacrifice his/her life for his country or whatever. The characters here aren't attacking the terrorists to save the people on the ground, but to save their own lives. They may not be heroic or patriotic as the media usually claimed them to be, but they are also wonderfully human, and that is what makes this movie memorable. -Comment written by Dear-