Gettysburg Film Festival: Flight 93

Any attempt by Hollywood to deal with actual events is fraught with problems. This is especially so when the events happened within the lifetimes of people who will be watching the movie. Hollywood’s need to inject drama gives us things like the utterly invented NTSB witchhunt in “Sully,” and ridiculous runway gunfight and the transfer of credit from the Canadian government to the CIA in the hostage rescue movie “Argo.”

So it’s easy to see why family members of Flight 93 victims were nervous about the possible outcome when they learned that director Paul Greengrass was working on a film focusing on their loved ones’ final flight. But Greengrass and his team soon convinced them that it wasn’t “too soon” and that the team was dedicated to getting the story right.

At a post-viewing discussion after a sold-out audience at the Majestic Theater viewed the film on Saturday, the day after the 25^th anniversary of the four hijackings, Debbie Borza, mother of Flight 93 passenger Deora Bodley, said the intense discussions with Greengrass and other members of the production “gave me a sense of how meaningful this movie would be for everyone who saw it.” Several relatives of passengers observed the careful and respectful approach the filmmakers were taking. Gordy Phelps, the brother of passenger Ed Phelps, was impressed that the film crew asked him if he thought it was “too soon” and he along with several other relatives commented on the painstaking research the crew and actors did to make sure they “got it right.”

Boy, did they get it right. The showing was sponsored by the Gettysburg Film Festival. Several actors who appeared in the movie as well as Tom McMillan, author of the book on the incident, spoke before the movie and five family members of United 93 passengers participated in a roundtable discussion afterwards.

The film is entirely lacking in Hollywood glitz and manufactured drama, but it is still an emotional gut punch. Told in almost documentary style, the movie follows the hijackers and crew, the passengers, and the people in FAA and military air traffic control centers as a routine late summer day turns into madness and chaos. We see the hijackers not as sympathetic in any way, but not as characters in a Chuck Norris movie either. Rather than madmen, we get seriously committed people motivated by an intense religious fanaticism.

The movie portrays the chaos and confusion in the air traffic control centers—with about a dozen people portraying themselves – as preliminary, often incorrect, reports come in and a frantic search is made to figure out how many planes have been hijacked and where they’re heading.

Finally, we experience the terror on the plane as the initial “stay calm and they’ll probably land us somewhere” attitude is replaced by the knowledge that two other planes have already crashed, now three, and that we should do something to get this plane back. The realization passing from person to person and the quick “what now?” huddles are intense, especially the realization of how quickly this group of strangers came together. (From hijacker Ziad Jarrah’s announcement that the plane had been hijacked to “let’s roll” was only 27 minutes.)

Gettysburg Film Festival director Andrew Dalton commented that he believed it was especially appropriate to show the film here. “Although they are separated by 100 miles and 138 years, I believe the story of Gettysburg and Shanksville have a lot in common. As President Lincoln said that we must ensure that those who gave their lives so that nation might live had not died in vain, so too those passengers showed that our ideals are worth fighting for.”

All of the relatives who spoke after the movie said that they were still angry but that the movie had helped them heal and that the example of their loved ones had inspired them to become more involved. Todd Beamer’s dad, David, recalled that “My first feeling [when I first saw the movie] was relief, because they told the story the right way.”

All are intensely involved in projects to promote the memory of Flight 93 and the passengers. All regularly speak to student groups and sometimes make appearances at Shanksville. Debbie Borza described a community service project she has been involved with for many years. “The first year, I just talked about how wonderful it is to be involved in community service, but then I remembered that I had photos of Deora’s community service activities so I brought some of that and described Deora’s feelings about helping others. It made it more meaningful for the kids.”

Appropriately, David Beamer got the biggest applause of the night when he ended the discussion with “Let’s Roll!” But quickly added, speaking for everyone involved, “Let’s do the right thing, right now.”

The movie “United 93” is available for streaming from several streaming sources.