United 93, the movie and its raging debate

By Seikholen Thomsong

Well it is not a new football club or a new world organization we are talking about here. United 93 is a film recently made based on one of the ill fated flights of the same name hijacked by Al Qaeda in September a few years back. Two planes crashed into the WTC (World Trade Centre) that year bringing it down and hundreds of people along with it while another airplane rammed into the Pentagon.

America fought a war against terror. When America fights a war it has to be for certain ideals. The Americans love to feel important and believe themselves to be world-do-gooders. Or is it that the Americans needed to be fooled into thinking that they are doing something good for mankind while their actions may result in something totally different in actuality. The war in Vietnam, Mogadishu, Afghanistan, Iraq and other places resulted in untold misery of mankind. A war was fought to rid the world of slavery and pests like Mussolini and Hitler. Then wars were fought in Indo-China for democracy. Senior Bush fought against Iraqi aggression on Kuwait. The junior Bush fought a war on terror.

The common thread binding all wars whether it is Americans who fought them, is the various reasons, which people responsible for starting them, never made public. It has always been like that since time immemorial. Remember Greece attacked Troy supposedly to reclaim Helen, the wife of Menelaus, who eloped with the sissy Paris. Allegedly Agamemnon, the brother of Menelaus, had ulterior motives, which he never revealed- his greed for loot and land. Things have not changed much. Bush had reasons just as Churchill, Stalin, and Franklin Delano Roosevelt etc before him. Things would not change in the near future too as mankind seldom change. All wars have its motives apart from the ones officially announced.

Coming back to United 93, the film was made after a thorough research on the event. CVRs (Cockpit Voice Recorders) recorded the voices of the pilots, hijackers and passengers. And thus what actually transpired could be deduced by listening to them. Also relatives of the passengers were asked to volunteer information to the director and producer of the movie. Some real people and airline staff were used for the movie.

The debate on the movie is whether it was not just too soon that movies on the terrorist attacks have been made. Some argue it is just too soon while others say it is alright. But like the wars we talked above earlier, the makers of the movie have their own motives. What a better time to make a movie on the event than now while the incident is still fresh in the minds of the people and the world. Half the effort of publicity that the PR department of the movie production house has to put in is already done, to say the least. The ethics of whether it would open wounds caused by Al Qaeda attacks is lost on the makers of the movie. That does not matter to them it seems. Justifications given by the moviemakers might range from the believable to the absurd but beneath it all lies the desires of the human soul- fame, money, influence and reach.

I would side with the hapless innocents who lost their kin in that particular incident that shook the world. They do not deserve to relive the hurt and the pain. The fact that a govt allegedly did not avert its occurrences , in spite of knowing well in advance, was a great enough betrayal to the American people. They need not be reminded about their personal tragedies, though the movie makers may argue that they want to show the resolve of man and his ability to cope with adversity.