United 93 (2-Disc Limited Edition) (DVD)

Ready to be depressed? If not then stay clear of United 93, or at least the special features of this limited edition DVD as it not only provides a harrowing look at what is believed to have transpired on that unfortunate United flight 93 on September 11 but is loaded with special features to drag you even further down. You can only hope those that still suffer with the loss of loved ones from that day have managed to find some peace in their lives.

Considering I did not see United 93 in theaters and I have since seen Oliver Stone's World Trade Center it is impossible for me not to compare the two. Fortunately this allows me to give you a much more concise emotional response based on how I felt after the two movies, which can only be compared to each other if any comparison is to be had.

First off, United 93 is a fantastic movie, and it is fantastic on various levels. For starters it manages to tell the story in such a way that it isn't emotionally gut-wrenching. Instead of wanting to cry for what I was seeing on screen I was compelled to place myself in the shoes of the people that I was watching and begin to wonder what would I do in that situation? This is not an easy question to answer and it really becomes the crux of the entire film, at least it did for me.

United 93 is so much more of a hero's tale than was World Trade Center, which is so hard to even write considering the heroic measure witnessed in World Trade Center. My opinion is simply due to the fact that these people knew they were going to die and if they didn't do something to stop those that were going to cause their death others were going to die as well. At that moment they became "the law" and did what they felt was necessary to protect and serve and every American should be grateful for what they did. Granted, they might not have been protecting your house or your life specifically, but they were protecting the integrity of the country of which you live in and that is saying a lot. Where World Trade Center tugged at your heart strings United 93 had you beaming with pride as you can now believe that there are people in this world that are not charged with the duty of protecting this nation that are willing to do so nonetheless. This is something that is easily said, but when you see these folks in action it hits you much differently than hearing about it on CNN.

All of this said, I still have a hard time recommending you go out and buy this DVD considering it is not something you are going to want to watch over and over again. While the movie itself is something that inspires pride it still doesn't make you want to subject yourself to misery more than once and the special features are even worse.

Starting with disc one we have a traditional audio commentary with director Paul Greengrass, whom I hold in very high regard as he managed to make a very good movie without resorting to cliché bits of dramatic trickery to try and engage the audience. The story is good enough, just tell it, and he did. I applaud him for that. Next we have a documentary on the families and the film and this is the most gut wrenching thing on either disc. This is where you get to see those that survived the passengers that died on flight 93 and you can't do anything other than want to reach out to these people. Laremy had the chance to interview both Will and Alison Jimeno, two of the main characters portrayed in World Trade Center, and I told him I would have hugged those two so hard upon meeting them and you can't help but feel the same way for all the people that you meet during this documentary. Granted, people die every die and I understand that, but to die in a needless way, a way that would never be considered by rational human beings is even worse. My heart goes out to these people, which makes this documentary so hard to watch.

Next are the memorial pages for 40 of the people that were aboard flight 93. I translate this as "If you weren't sad yet please read this and hopefully you will cry." I say this only slightly joking to make myself comfortable as it is hard to read about what people lost and what they could have become had they not been aboard a flight filled with people that held life with such low regard. Finally we come to disc two with a 45-minute featurette featuring witnesses of the actual events of September 11 as they describe what happened and how they reacted to the situation.

United 93 is extremely unique in the way that the actual people that lived the event are portraying themselves, and capably portraying themselves for that matter, and to hear it from their mouths outside of the film is increasingly effective, but effective in a way that I am not compelled to watch this material again. Come on, think about it, we lived 9/11 the first time, and now we watched it on film from a different perspective. Why would I voluntarily relive the same scenario again in the exact same way? I burned myself before, but I don't choose to burn myself again... it hurts too much. The same goes for anything that happened on September 11th. I applaud the filmmakers and everyone involved for creating a fantastic film, but as far as recommending others buy it as opposed to renting it, that I cannot do.