United 93 (film)  

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United 93 is a 2006 docudrama thriller film written and directed by Paul Greengrass. The film chronicles the events aboard United Airlines Flight 93, one of the four hijacked flights during the September 11 attacks and the only one not to hit its intended target due to the intervention of passengers and crew.

The film attempts to recount the hijacking and subsequent events in the flight with as much veracity as possible (there is a disclaimer that some imagination had to be used) and in real time (from the flight's takeoff). The film was made with the cooperation of many of the passengers' families, though not all agreed to participate.

United 93 premiered on April 26, 2006, at the Tribeca Film Festival in New York City, a festival founded to celebrate New York City as a major filmmaking center and to contribute towards the long-term recovery of Lower Manhattan. Several family members of the passengers aboard the flight attended the premiere to show their support.

The film opened in North America on April 28, 2006, to critical acclaim. Ten percent of the gross income from the three-day opening weekend was promised toward a donation to create a memorial for the flight's victims. The total gross intake of United 93 was $31.4 million in the United States, and $76.3 million worldwide. The film also received two Academy Award nominations, including Best Director for Greengrass.

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Plot

On the morning of September 11, 2001, four al-Qaeda members, Ziad Jarrah, Saeed al-Ghamdi, Ahmed al-Nami, and Ahmed al-Haznawi pray in a Newark, New Jersey hotel, and after Jarrah makes a final phone call to his girlfriend, board United Airlines Flight 93, piloted by Captain Jason Dahl and First Officer LeRoy Homer Jr., at Newark International Airport. Among the passengers are Tom Burnett, Todd Beamer, Jeremy Glick, Richard Guadagno, Louis J. Nacke II, Lauren Grandcolas and Mark Bingham who is the last passenger to board, barely making the flight. United 93 becomes delayed due to airport traffic. Air traffic controllers lose contact with American Airlines Flight 11 which diverts toward New York City and realise it has been hijacked after hearing suspicious transmissions. Shortly after United 93 takes off after its slight delay, Flight 11 crashes into the North Tower of the World Trade Center, and United Airlines Flight 175 is also hijacked and heads toward New York City. Air traffic controllers learn that American Airlines Flight 77 has also been hijacked and watch in horror as United 175 crashes into the South Tower.

As the passengers are served breakfast on United 93, Jarrah hesitates to start the hijacking. Via an ACARS message, Dahl and Homer are notified of the WTC attacks and to beware cockpit intrusion. After Nami unsuccessfully urges Jarrah to attack, an impatient Haznawi prepares an artificial bomb in the lavatory. Ghamdi grabs flight attendant Deborah Welsh at knife point and passenger Mark Rothenberg is mortally wounded by Haznawi. As Haznawi and Nami force the passengers to the back of the plane, Ghamdi kills both pilots, despite sending out a mayday call, and Welsh, as Jarrah begins piloting the aircraft, and redirects it towards Washington, D.C., with the intention to crash it into the United States Capitol. Grandcolas (an emergency medical technician) tries to help the dying Rothenberg but Nami berates her. The hijackers jubilantly react to the success of the WTC attack. While flight attendants Sandra Bradshaw and CeeCee Lyles unsuccessfully attempt to revive Rothenberg, Bradshaw sees the hijackers moving the bodies of the pilots and Welsh and the passengers overhear this.

After Flight 77 crashes into The Pentagon, FAA National Operations Manager Ben Sliney decides to shut down all U.S. air space and ground all flights. Passengers on United 93 learn of the other attacks from family members via airphone. Realising the hijackers have no intention of landing, Burnett, Bingham, Beamer, Glick (a former judo champion), Guadagno and Nacke form a plan to retake the plane, with assistance from flight staff, arming themselves with weapons, and learn passenger Donald Greene is a licensed pilot and passenger Andrew Garcia is a former air traffic controller. As the group gather, Haznawi and Nami anxiously realise they are losing control and Jarrah and Ghamdi become agitated, as they are twenty minutes away from D.C. and are unable to speed up to reach their target. Passenger Christian Adams, attempting to counsel appeasement, is restrained by some of the passengers, while other passengers pray and make final calls to loved ones.

After Beamer urges the group to take action, the passengers charge a stunned Haznawi, tackle him and beat him. As Nami, Ghamdi and Jarrah panic, Bingham kills Haznawi by crushing his skull with a fire extinguisher and Nacke declares the bomb a fake. As Grandcolas, passengers William Cashman, Patrick Driscoll and Alan Beaven join the assault, Jarrah violently rocks the plane to disrupt the assault and Nami tries to hold them off with a serving cart, Mace and his own fire extinguisher. He too is overpowered, and Glick gouges his eyes out before snapping his neck. As the group move Greene and Garcia though first-class, the passengers reach the cockpit door. Jarrah and Ghamdi are disheartened by the realisation that they will never reach their target, and debate on whether to crash the plane rather than cede control. The passengers breach the cockpit with the cart just as Jarrah puts the plane into a steep dive, reciting the takbir. Ghamdi tries to protect Jarrah, but the passengers overpower him and wrestle Jarrah for control. The aircraft inverts and crashes into a field in Shanksville, Pennsylvania, killing everyone aboard.

The film ends with a series of title cards explaining that of the four airliners hijacked on September 11, 2001, United 93 was the only one that did not reach its intended target. This is followed by a dedication to all who lost their lives in the attacks.

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Cast

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Throughout the film, Ben Sliney portrays himself. Template:Div col end

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See also



Unless indicated otherwise, the text in this article is either based on Wikipedia article "United 93 (film)" or another language Wikipedia page thereof used under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License; or on research by Jahsonic and friends. See Art and Popular Culture's copyright notice.

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