United 93 (2006)

Yeah, I know, it’s hard to believe that it’s been sixteen years since the September 11th attacks – the watershed ‘JFK’ moment of my generation – but here we are, still feeling the effects of that day and living our lives differently because of it.

There are a handful of movies that have been made about the tragedy, but United 93 is as good an account as you will find. It’s probably not the kind of movie you’ll sit through more than once, because you’re not going to get any joy or substance out of a second viewing. It doesn’t pull any punches in its delivery, and it’s impossible to forget what it is you’re watching.

We can argue about how accurate the depiction is, and how much of it was amended and tweaked for ‘dramatic purposes’, but when you’re talking about the single worst act of terror committed against the civilised world, it’s a little redundant to start picking at these things.

United 93 is an extremely tough and sobering film to watch, as rightly it should be, and there’s nothing to smile at here: no levity at all to remind you that these are actors on a stage. But it’s a movie we should not disregard, about a day that we never will.