Are we ready for movies dramatizing 9/11 yet?

[LynneSin]

Poll question: Are we ready for movies dramatizing 9/11 yet?

This week marked the release of United 93 - a dramatization of what might have happened on Flight 93, the plane on 9/11 that crashed into a farmfield in rural Pennsylvania.

I just don't think I'm ready to see events of 9/11 being dramatized. Next up we have Oliver Stone's version of what happened to the firefighters in the WTC. What next - Barbara Olsens on plane flirtation with the handsome arab man who turned out to be one of the hijackers? Love on the 98th floor of the WTC where the lovebirds end up jumping out of the building holding hands on 9/11?

These are not documentaries but dramatizations of what the creaters of the movie believe might have happened on 9/11. Why now, some 5 years later we're starting to make these I don't undertstand but I'm just not ready to go Hollywood with these fictionalized versions of 9/11. Are you?

[leftofthedial]

1. It would all be better if they weren't mythologizing what happened

I'd like to see some dramatization of MIHOP/LIHOP and attempting to account for the overwhelming number of inconsistencies rather than just glossing them over or making up alternate realities.

I think such movies are overdue.

[ikojo]

2. I don't think a movie about 9/11/01 can be done

without it appearing to be propagandistic. I will probably not see any movies about 9/11/01 because of the tendancy for everything and everyone associated with that day is canonized and treated as scripture, where no dissenting opinion is tolerated.

[LynneSin]

3. so what about movies like Fahrenheit 9/11

which wasn't all about 9/11 but an important part of it?

[ikojo]

7. Fahrenheit 9/11 was a documentary and though

some on the right claim Michael Moore took liberty with the facts, fictionalized accounts will tend to mythologize the people involved.

[Left Is Write]

4. As a whole? I don't know. I personally am not ready.

And maybe I never will be.

A thoughtfully done documentary I could watch. A fictionalized, dramatized account? No. Not interested.

[skygazer]

5. When will we be ready?

I'm not comfortable with many of the aspects of making movies about 9/11 but I'm not sure when I would be. And art tends to follow trends, too - right after WWII, movies and books about it tended to be of the "glory and heroism" variety - later, with our involvement in Vietnam, they got more cynical and looked more at the harshness and cruelty of war, using WWII as a metaphor for Vietnam in many instances. Movies about Vietnam itself have gone through various types, depending on the time, the climate and the artist.

I don't know the answer to the question. I don't know if I'll see this particular movie. I just don't know...

[YankeyMCC]

6. It's too soon for me

but that said I'm not sure if it really is too soon. I'm not going to decry the movie for timing alone but personally I'm finding it hard to watch the previews or even consider going to see it.

It may be my own weakness. I did not loose a loved one on that day. The closest effect was that I knew some people that were in the Pentagon, but got out, someone who was supposed to be in the towers but was delayed, and several friends who were subsequently deployed to Afghanistan. But I still went through tremendous emotional stress. Of course everyone in America did. I'm just saying for me it was stressful and painful in ways I had not experienced before and don't care to again. Which I guess is why I can't watch the movie.

[Sugar Smack]

8. You asked a really good question, Lynne. I vote no fucking way.

I can't imagine what sort of director would be able to stomach that, anyway. It's too soon.

[Tyrone Slothrop]

9. Not only is it too soon now...

I honestly can't ever imagine a day where I would want to pay $10 to go sit in a theater and relive that horrible day over again.

For me, movies are about escapism -- even documentaries, to a point. I remember watching one of the Moore movies (can't remember which one now -- I want to say it was in BfColumbine, but F9/11 seems more likely) here in NYC when he actually showed the footage of the planes striking the towers very briefly. And I was taken back to what remains one of the worst days of my life.

I seriously cannot imagine ever wanting to revisit or relive that day again except from a scholarly perspective. There's no entertainment there.

[Oeditpus Rex]

10. I don't think it's too soon

I think such half-dramatization, half-extrapolation movies are bullshit, a la "Pearl Harbor," which was a farce from a historical standpoint.

Too soon? How about "never"? Does "never" work for you?

[djeseru]

11. Then, why did all of United 93's families give the go-ahead?

They were all at the premiere too. Each one even said they want this out there so their loved ones won't be forgotten. This director is English, and the English style of these type of films are far more documentary in their handling of the subject matter. This is no way a crappy TV-movie style dramatization of these events.

I know I'm gonna get crap for this post...I'm just repeating what the families themselves have said.

[LynneSin]

12. No you're not - you have a valid point

however, even with the approval of the families still not ready for it - but that's just me

[djeseru]

14. It's a raw, powerful moment for all of us.

I still shout out "NO!" and cry when I see the planes, etc. I just feel badly for these victims and their families who are so easily lost in the huge emotional wave this still is. I'm just glad they have an outlet for them to try to deal with their very public loss.

But I probably won't see United 93 for some time still either.

[MissMillie]

13. It's not about "too soon"

I don't know that there will ever be enough time for me to find this stuff entertaining.

[Dukkha]

15. suspiciously close to mid elections

seems they're trying to rally 9/11 jingoism during the campaigns.

[LynneSin]

16. I'd almost buy that except Oliver Stone is doing the one closer to...

the elections. And Stone doesn't come off as a pro-war supporter, but that's just me

[JVS]

17. LET'S ROLL!

[tjwash]

18. Screw that, I've been 9-11'ed to death already.

I'm not about to give someone money to shove it down my throat now.

[DrDebug]

19. No, but it's going to happen anyhow

And people will flock to it.

[LynneSin]

20. The Passion of the United 93 Passengers

:crazy: