Monday, May 22, 2006

More Thoughts On 'United 93'

So I was over at David Codrea's place the other day, and he had a few words on United 93. He first quoted this piece:

At the point when the passengers realized they were on a suicide mission, they quietly asked the flight attendants for help in scrounging knives, hammers, screwdrivers, weapons of any kind, from the galley. Only a true gun rights patriot will recognize this series of fatal events. Thus we all owe it to our families and friends to make them aware of these outcomes. I have not read any mention of this element by any movie reviewer. It completely went by them.


And Dave had this to say, in response to that...

This is the reason why I decided I wasn't going to see this movie. I read reports of theater-goers weeping, and being moved, etc., blah, blah, baaaa.

Good Lord. There would have been no 9/11 if this country wasn't insane with dependency.

It's criminal that the memorable slogan of the day wasn't "Let's rack" instead of "Let's roll".


He's right, of course, but still the film is more than worth seeing; I'd argue it's probably the most important film to come out in a long time, something every American should see. United 93 was a very moving film, and yes, I cried like a baby, but my tears were more for the sheep than anything else, as they sat in their seats and said their last goodbyes to their families on the ground. It was that moving, but ultimately inspiring, as well. The sheepdog mentality and the ultimate, basic American character were on stark display on that flight, and in that film, and that is something we all should be reminded of, even those of us who know full well that 9/11 would have been just another day on the calendar were it not for the insane gun control laws on the books. Once again, Bill Whittle nailed it:

These trust the people freedoms are so deeply engrained in the fabric of America as to be almost hereditary, I think. I used to worry that we'd bred that out of us, and then along comes Todd Beamer and company on United Flight 93, who, first among us that day, realized they were being marched to their deaths and decided to do something about it. Not for themselves, because by taking that action they knew they were doomed. They did it for us. Not only to save the lives of those on the ground for whom their aircraft was headed, but to remind us of who we are as a people, to add to the list of ordinary Americans who can gather extraordinary courage and resolve because they have been trusted all their lives by their government and their fellow citizens.


And that was ultimately what United 93, the film, was for as well -- to show us, in stark detail, who we are as a people and whom we must continue to be if we are to have any chance whatsoever of winning this war against the radical Islamists, if we are to have any chance of continuing to be, as President Ronald Reagan put it, "the last best hope for a mankind plagued by tyranny and deprivation." Never forget, indeed...