Hey friends,
Two different movies. Two different political spectrums. Two different reactions.
Yes, I watched two movies the last two nights and each one brought out a different reaction. I don’t think it was a mistake that I got to see United 93 first, and then The Road to Guantanamo next.
United 93, probably the most controversial movie of the year 2006, follows the tragedy of the fourth plane that was hijacked on September 11th 2001. Shot entirely on hand-held camera, United 93 brings to its viewers the events as it unfolded on that fateful day. So realistic is this movie, that we don’t get the standard character introductions like we would in other movies. Instead we jump right into the passengers passing through metal detectors, where you can see how lax the security really was pre-9/11. We also follow the four would be hijackers. Once aboard, the hijackers put their plan into action, and tell the 40 or so people on board to move back to the plane. The hijackers kill the pilots and take control of the plane.
We follow more intimately the lives of a couple of people on board who make calls to their wives. We also see the action at the Airline Crisis Center, the regional airport control tower, and the homes of the families whose husbands were caught in the plane. As the plane route is diverted, the passengers realize that the bomb strapped around one of the hijackers is fake, and put their own plan into action. The rest as we know is history. The plane crashed into the ground. No survivors.
No doubt, it’s a well-made film. There is so much tension and suspense, and even though we know how the movie will end, we still hold our breath as we see the action unfold. We feel like as if were right there on the plane on that day. By casting unknown actors to portray the real-life people who were caught in the action, it works in their favors because we don’t think of Bruce Willis or Nicholas Cage. These people are real people and not some cardboard action hero. Here men cry as they speak with their wives. A daughter and mom just stay on the phone. Another man asks his work colleague to say a prayer with him. We also get to see the more human side of the hijackers. They are not caricature or stereotyped. They were doing what they had set out to do. I saw this movie on DVD, but had I seen it in the theatres, I would expect the whole hall to stay in stunned silence.
While the movie does not attempt to take sides or create larger than life characters, it does ask us to remember the passengers who made the effort to divert the plane. We are shown families talking on phones. We feel their grief and agony. We also feel sympathetic for the hijackers as they feel helpless when they realize their plan has gone awry. But at the end of it all, this movie was made to honor those passengers who perished.
Despite it being a great and well-made movie, I still had several questions running through my mind. Everyone on board seemed to make phone calls from their cell phone as if it were the easiest thing to do. I know that’s not possible, especially if you are traveling over 450 knots per hour. This movie is also based on the accounts of the families of those who perished, collecting information from phone calls and messages left on answering machines, which would of course raise an issue of how accurate the events depicted inside the plane is.
Having said that, I am just being nit-picky about smaller details, because this movie, on a larger scale reminded me of the times we live in. United 93 is thought provoking, gut wrenching and real enough to make you sit still in silence long after the movie is over. The world has indeed changed after 9/11 and all that credit goes to the people who hijacked the four planes and changed history forever.
My feelings on this movie changed DRAMATICALLY as I watched another independent movie called The Road to Guantanamo (TRTG). TRTG is about three British Pakistanis, Asif, Ruhel and Shafiq, who go to Pakistan for Asif’s wedding. These three young men are just like any other three young men. While in Pakistan, they make a plan to go to Afghanistan. Through the bus ride they come to Afghanistan. Before they realize what’s been happening, they get caught up with the Taliban fighters, and in the blink of an eye, their whole life is changed for the worse as they are transported and surrendered to the Northern Alliance. The three friends are mistake for Taliban fighters and soon come under the control of the American military that are in control of the base.
All three of them are interrogated and shouted at, and are accused of being at a rally addressed by Osama bin Laden. The three friends deny any involvement with Osama or with the Taliban. They were just caught in at the wrong time at the wrong place. The more they deny, the more severe the punishment, till it comes to the point where their heads are shaved, changed into bright orange suit, goggles put on, dust mask put on, mufflers put on and are air-freighted to Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.
The rest of the movie details out how the three friends are interrogated abused, mis-handled while in captivity. Eventually after two years in prison, they are released and were not charged. As of now, according to the movie, there are 500 prisoners in Guantanamo Bay, and only 10 are charged with a crime.
It become extremely difficult for me to watch the scenes at Guantanamo Bay because the treatment meted out to the prisoners is just horrific. One of the prisoners is praying, and the American military guard asks him why he is praying as he is supposed to be British: what about the Queen? In another case, the military guard thrashes the cell and throws the Quran down on the floor and kicks it. The three friends are also put in isolation cells because they continue to maintain their innocence and deny any involvement with Osama bin Laden or the Taliban. In one case, they are put in isolation cell, with heavy metal music on full volume and flashing light thrown on their faces. I couldn’t stand the few seconds shown on film, and these three had to endure hours of such torture. I tell you, these are scene that just literally punch you in the stomach really hard.
The American military are shown as being rude, swearing, mis-treating the prisoners, shouting at them all the time, talking to prisoners as if they were animals, and ignorant of the Muslim faith. I thought that it was little unfair to show the American military guards this way, but then as the movie wore on, all I could think of was Abu Ghraib prison scandal. I can never forgive the Americans for what they did there. TRTG brought out the same anger in me, and I wanted to literally vent my anger out at the TV. I was so angry at the way the prisoners were treated, it made me feel ok that the passengers died on United 93.
If anyone is following the current events, the international body has called for the US to close the Guantanamo Bay, but US being US is defiant. We see Bush and Cheney talking in the movie: they are bad guys (referring to the captured detainees); they don’t share the same values that you and I do. Believe you me, the prisoners in this movie had better values than the American guards!
Again, I had to keep in mind that TRTG is a movie based on personal accounts of the three young men who were released and are living in Britain now. This is their story.
As for me, I was sympathetic for the passengers on United 93. The hijackers had no right to do something like this because as Muslims, we believe killing one person is akin to killing all of mankind. There is no justification for the 9/11 attacks. However, when you delve deeper into what led the hijackers to do something so horrific, you do tend to understand where they are coming from. Daily 50 plus people are dying in Iraq. Daily people are being killed in Palestine. Daily people are being killed in Afghanistan. When you see TRTG, you realize how cheap life has become there.
So two different movies: United 93 and The Road to Guantanamo. Two different reactions. I identify more with TRTG than United 93. Americans will identify more with United 93. It’s so hard to believe that the world we live in has changed to dramatically right before our eyes. We are in the midst of history being created. At the expense of sounding like George Bush: whose side are you on? The passengers who died on the plan? Or the innocent prisoners who are being held unfairly, without any justice, at Guantanamo Bay? Of course, it's not as simple as Americans versus the Muslim World. The problem is far too complex than that. However, these movies force you to think again of what's right and wrong and everything in between.
Mansur
