Entertainment

When United 93 came out in theaters in April, it raised several questions: is it too soon, will it show too much, come off as exploitative, and so on. It all boiled down to the fundamental one: Why would anyone want to see this movie? Flash-forward to now, and its release on DVD raises an even starker variation on the same question: Why would anyone want to own this movie?

United 93 has the distinction of being the "first" 9/11 movie from Hollywood; it has been followed by this summer's World Trade Center, with more sure to come. Its premise is as simple and stark as its title: to re-create and follow the events of that day as they unfolded on a fated flight that ended with a crash on a farm field in Pennsylvania.

Everything about this movie seems to have been conceived and-or designed to dampen or deflect negative reactions to the idea of a 9/11 movie. From the use of real-life people instead of actors in many of the roles to the low-tech camerawork to a story line that occurs in all but real time, this is a movie that feels and looks like a documentary. No mythmaking liberties, no meaning-making contrivances, no drama-heightening characterization. Just the facts, ma'am.

So if you were wondering what it must have looked and felt like to be on United Flight 93, when terrorists hijacked the plane intending to crash it into the White House but were foiled by a band of passengers rushing the cockpit, here it is. But given everything we've seen, heard and reflected on (the voice-mail messages, the endless reporting on every known detail and, finally, the endless replay of our imaginations), what can this documentary approach show us or tell us that we don't already know?

Here's my reaction to the movie: It's a well-done, thoughtfully conceived exercise that attempts to meet an impossible challenge. I think about how long it took us as a culture before we were ready to produce some deep, meaningful and, most importantly, cathartic meditations on the Vietnam War. It wasn't a matter of years; it was a matter of decades.

So to the "is it too soon" canard, filmmakers and the studios financing them can justifiably say no. Or, as writer and director Paul Greengrass says in his commentary, "only the victims' family have the moral right to judge that question" and all the ones he dealt with wanted the movie to be made. But is it too soon to make a movie that helps us not just understand the whats and hows of that day's events, but to understand them in some larger way that helps us move through them and toward what's next?

That is a challenge this movie couldn't help but fail to answer. Because, yes, it is too soon. And for now the best Hollywood can offer is movies that don't appear to exploit the events of 9/11, that don't openly offend our sense of propriety and taste. And when it comes to making any kind of movie, but especially movies tackling one of the most painful and complex series of actions and reactions in modern history, the last thing you should have to worry about is appearances or offending people.

E-mail tmaurstad@dallasnews.com

United 93

Grade: B

Starring Christian Clemenson, Trish Gates, Cheyenne Jackson, Polly Adams, Gary Commock and Ben Sliney. Directed by Paul Greengrass. R (language, intense terror and violence). 111 mins. plus extras. $29.98