While watching the news on Sunday morning, I saw Sandy Dahl--widow of Flight 93's lead pilot, Captain Jason Dahl--give an interview about the upcoming movie United 93 and the response to the movie's trailer which is being shown in theaters at present. The interesting thing about Mrs. Dahl is her occupation. She also works for United Airlines—as a flight attendant. One thing that many of us forget is the courage of the flight crews (along with that of the passengers) that resumed status as soon as President Bush allowed commercial and private aircraft back into service.
Even though she was obviously struggling to hold it together emotionally for the camera, Mrs. Dahl was all for the depiction of the events. She said that the heroism of the passengers of that famed flight is being forgotten and that—since they had already known of the attacks on the World Trade Center Towers--we must be reminded of the fact that United Flight 93's passengers and crew gave their lives for our government, such as it is.
Judith Weiss has a roundup of commentary on the new movie. In one of her own posts, she says that United 93 will "separate the men from the boys," and that “it will be a cultural identifier for the group of people who want to win this war and feel surrounded by those who are hostile or indifferent.”
Of note: while perusing the IMDB listing of the cast, I noticed that there are no cast members portraying Captain Dahl, his co-pilot Leroy Homer or Lisa Jefferson, the last still-living person to talk to Flight 93’s most famous passenger, Todd Beamer. Ms. Jefferson reportedly recited the 23rd Psalm with Mr. Beamer—“I will fear no evil”--along with the Lord's Prayer. We’ll see how the existence and actions of these persons are handled, however.
Can you take that as an intention for me to see this movie? Yes, and in the theater, no less. I think that we owe it to any victims of 9/11 to bear witness to any celluloid portrayals of their sacrifice, heroism and most untimely demise. Jim Gerhagty agrees:
If somebody doesn’t want to walk into a theater and watch it and relive all that, I can’t begrudge them. For me... I think I’ll have to see it. It’s almost like attending a memorial service. Periodically, I want to remember, to be reminded of everything of that day, to know what this war we're fighting is all about, and what the world can be during its worst hours and what individuals can be at their finest hours. I wonder how many other folks feel like that.(Thanks to Pajamas Media)
