United 93

United 93 (2006) tells the story of the fourth aircraft on 11 September 2001. It runs in three places at once: inside the plane, in the air traffic control centres, and in the military coordination room. Nobody knows what is happening and information arrives very slowly. Paul Greengrass deliberately made it without stars. The passengers are played largely by unknown professional actors, so no recognition gets in the way. Some real people play themselves. The most significant is Ben Sliney, the FAA's national operations manager. He joined as an adviser, was then given a small part, and Greengrass asked him directly to play himself, which he accepted. On that day Sliney was the man who, after the Pentagon was hit, ordered all United States airspace closed and every flight grounded. The film was made with the support and cooperation of most of the passengers' families. Not all took part; the widow of Christian Adams did not, because of the pain of how her husband was portrayed. Even the trailers caused an argument. Some audiences found the material disturbing and Universal was asked to pull it; one Manhattan cinema stopped showing it on its own after complaints, while the studio kept it in circulation. It was made for between fifteen and eighteen million dollars and grossed 77.6 million worldwide. It runs 111 minutes. Good for: near real time storytelling, procedural crisis films, and Greengrass. Less good for: the film never lightens the weight of its subject and the last twenty minutes are hard to bear. The characters have no backstory and you attach to nobody, which is deliberate. The handheld camera never stops moving.