United 93

I don't like to think about it. What happened on that day. I prefer to continue my life's pace in my new "normal" existence without remembering. Because that quite honestly, is the easy thing to do. If I allow my mind to journey back to September 11th, it is almost as though I am reliving every single moment again.

It's as though that day never ended.

As I sit and remember, the anger, the fear, and the grief rise within me. The tears are as fresh as the day it happened. And so when I heard they were to make a movie about the flight of United 93, my reaction at first was sharp and critical. It brought too much back. I said it was too soon, we needed more time.

But I realize now when I hear about so many people criticizing the war on terror, the sheer audacity of some to defend terrorists, the mumurings that they just want things back the way they were that we as a nation need a reminder. We need to stop allowing ourselves to forget and remember a day when ordinary Americans did something extraordinary.

So in a small attempt to honor those passengers and crew of United 93, Cotillion wanted to mark their reactions to the movie. This is not an easy subject and this carnival isn't meant to be anything but a few ladies wanting to try to express something that no words can ever truly describe.

So here we are. Let's remember. Let's never forget.

"So, I found myself urging the passengers on, hurry, take the bastards out, do it now, as if I didn't really know the ending. We know that those brave Americans did not go freely and willingly to their deaths, and that they fought back in any and every way that they were able, but we can never truly know exactly what happened on that plane. What I saw today in the theatre was close enough. When the screen went black and the soundtrack went silent, I could hear others in the theatre sniffling and softly sobbing, as I was." - LindaSoG of Something...and Half of Something

"OK, so was it too soon? HELL NO. Especially not when you have the useful idiots saying they’re “over 9/11.� I’m not sure exactly what kind of drooling moron it takes to be “over it,� but it’s not one I want to know. But people like that apparently need something like this movie to remind them, because I don’t want them to have to be reminded of that day by having another one like it. For me though, it’s like that day was yesterday, every day. And you know what else makes me angry? When I see assholes from the left saying this is a pro-Bush propaganda film. No, it fucking is not. There’s no political view in this at all, unless you think showing Arabs hijacking planes is making a “political statement.� (Tough. It happened.) Those people are the ones for whom this movie is definitely not “too soon.� I think in some cases, it’s too late. " - Beth of MY Vast Wing Conspiracy

"I watched this movie, knowing, of course, that this had all already happened. Yet, during much of it, I was actually afraid. Afraid of what? I don’t know, I can’t answer that question. And, as I’ve heard others say, I wanted to jump out of my seat and yell to all those people, “no, don’t get on that plane�….like I could maybe change something. The sad reality is, we can’t change anything. It happened. What we need to do is REMEMBER." - Tammy of A Mom and Her Blog

"...That's the one that caught us up short too. As we told our Sub Rosa group last night at our second secret meeting, some of our best blogfriends are Muslims. The beautiful people on Neil Cavuto's show this afternoon seemed to think this movie was going to be good for Wall Street. We can't help but agree. Bottom line is that there are no atheists (except for ourselves) in the trenches."- Sissy Willis of Sisu

"As I watched the images on the screen, the repetition of Allahu Akbar - over and over - I became angry. I wanted to cover my ears. I wanted to scream out how that is not God, it is the devil!!! But when it was over, and I had walked a few minutes in the chilly midnight air, I became glad of that repetitive praying. I hope everyone sees the film and hears the calls to Allah. I hope that it grates on their nerves, too. I hope that each person who sees and hears the film is reminded why 3000 people died. Not because of US foreign policy, not because of oil or the decadence of Brittney Spears.
Three thousand people were murdered because of Allah." - Girl on the Right

"These were ordinary people, who, with great courage and determination, defeated their enemy. These were ordinary people who recognised when they weren't going to get anywhere by standing idly by and trusting to the good intentions of their foes. These were ordinary people who realised that they might have to sacrifice some of their lives if any of them were to survive, and made the decision to do it. These were ordinary people who may have been scared, terrified even, but still they stood up and were counted that day." - Mr. Right from Girl on the Right

"There are no big name stars, no background exposition on anyone you meet in this film. It's as if you are a damned specter, condemned to wander and witness events you know about but cannot change. Boarding 93 was an ordinary as any other boarding on any other of tens of thousands of flights that day. Snippets of conversation among passengers as you float up the aisle -- a couple making dinner plans, old friends pouring over a map of Yosemite, the flight attendants checking their stores and asking after each others families -- nothing that hasn't happened, that doesn't happen, any other day on any other flight.
And when the door is sealed a sense of forboding settles over your heart with the heat and heaviness of molten lead." - Darleen of Darleen's Place

"A summary of things I said [quietly]/thought during the movie:
[To the guy who nearly missed the flight] "Fuck."
"Everyone on the screen is dead. They're all dead."
[During the in-flight safety instruction] "I wonder if those life preservers'd keep someone from getting stabbed too."
"Break the fuckin' wine bottles, dammit. Glass'll cut 'em up." [Were they even glass? I dunno.]
"DO SOMETHING!!!!!!"" - Feisty Republican Whore

"It is a powerful film and I am glad they left out the personal stories of each of the passengers. Instead it shows the human spirit of Americans to fight back in ther face of death. To make that one last attempt no matter what knowing the outcome is almost sure that it will end in each persons death. " - Wild Thing of Theodore's World

"Why I will not be seeing United 93:
I don't need a movie to remind me how I felt on 9/11.
I don't need to see it on a screen to feel the pain and the horror of that morning again.
I don't need actor portrayals to remember the bravery of the men and women who scrificed themselves to crash a plane into a field in Pennsylvania, rather than allow it to be crashed into the Capitol Dome or the White House.
I don't need their sacrifice shoved in my face for the bargain price of $8.50.
" - caltechgirl of Not Exactly Rocket Science

"Go see the movie. It's done in a gritty, matter-of-fact, almost documentary style. It increases the feeling that you are watching real events. Which is important because these were real events. It actually happened. There are no viewpoint characters, which allows the audience a certain distance from the very horror of that day. But it also makes you want to yell at the screen, "no, no, no, don't you see what's happening!"" - annika's journal

"I am consistently awestruck by the bravery of the passengers and crew on this flight. Their decision to fight back not only saved countless lives, they ensured that no more terrorists will *ever* do this again - no one will let them. If I have anything to say about how the actual film was done, I would say that they painted such a candid and frank picture of what must have happened on that flight without adding the normal Hollywood or Made-for-TV-Movie over-dramatization we typically see. They made me feel the frustration air traffic control must have felt - they made me feel confused when mixed messages were going on and they made me feel the fear and anxiety every person in this scenario had to have felt, no matter whether they were on that plane or a spectator to the situation on the ground. My heart breaks for the families of these heroes."- Merri of Merri's Musings

cross posted at in spite of everything...