Arthouse film screening: United 93

Our arthouse screenings continue today (Wednesday) with United 93 (2006) - 3.05pm in DF07.



This remarkable documentary-style drama from British director Paul Greengrass recreates the events that took place on September 11, 2001 when four planes were hijacked with the intention of flying them into major American landmarks. Three hit their targets in New York and Washington but United 93 crashed in a field in Pennsylvania after the passengers attempted to re-take control of the plane.

Shot entirely using handheld camera to emphasise the documentary feel, Paul Greengrass (along with his main Editor Christopher Rouse) has been credited with "re-writing the rules for action editing" with his ultra-realistic style. As Variety magazine states:

"Over the span of 10 years, Greengrass and Rouse have rewritten the rules for action editing, bringing an illusion of spontaneous immediacy to carefully choreographed set pieces.

Certainly, Greengrass’ impact can be detected in films as diverse as “The Hunger Games” (with its jittery handheld lensing and skittish cutting) and “Short Term 12” (which applies restless multi-cam coverage to a low-budget indie drama).

But the director’s immersive eyewitness aesthetic shouldn’t be reduced to so-called “shaky cam” shooting and editing that intensifies the action onscreen with quick cuts and dynamic cross-axis jumps between angles.

As Rouse suggests, these strategies work in service of a new way of telling stories, one that relies just as much on recreating factual events (“United 93,” “Green Zone” and “Captain Phillips”) as it does heightening the impact of Hollywood thrillers (the “Bourne” sequels).

The film also raises interesting questions in terms of the representation of nationality, race and ethnicity (America; Muslims etc.) and fits perfectly with A2 theoretical work we will cover next year in terms of post-9/11 and the media and post-colonial theory.

Enjoy the film!