By Amanda DeCamp

“You suck Allah,” an enraged moviegoer yelled out as the credits for “United 93” appeared on the screen. The theater was half-full and remained silent for the entire duration of the film. People strolled out and my friend told me she felt nauseous. I agreed as I threw out my full diet coke and package of Twizzlers, which I could not stomach while watching our country’s recent history of terrorism enacted before my eyes on a large screen. Unknown actors played the role of terrorists who altered this nation forever. There was no Julia Roberts or Tom Hanks to add familiarity and comfort.

“United 93” is a documentary – it’s a true story about the events that occurred on 9/11. It is an attempt to capture the state of mind of the heroes who stopped another attack by crashing a plane in a field in Pennsylvania. It begins by showing four of the terrorists preparing for their day of destruction. They show them getting clean-shaven, dressed in suits and mumbling prayers. It shows the passengers of United Airlines Flight 93 chatting on cell phones and laughing before their departure. Much of the film is based on the linguistics that went on between aircraft stations across the United States.

I left the film in despair. I hated the movie and I hated that I went to go see it and I hated Universal Studios for making it. Most of all, I hated the terrorists. United 93 was obviously very real. There was nothing “Hollywood” about it. There was no alternate ending or individual hero who was able to save the day. I squirmed in my seat while the flight attendant was stabbed to death and while the teenage girl first realized this was the end of her short life. Some small part of me wanted to forget that this was real and I could not help but think that maybe they would be all right. The sad and tragic conclusion proved this was not an episode of 24, or a movie like “Air Force One.” There was no Jack Bower or Harrison Ford to miraculously fight off the terrorism.

There were heroes though. The members of Flight 93 proved that there is success in the motto of Americans, “United we stand, divided we fall.” They stormed down the aisle and tackled the terrorists. They knew of the attacks on the World Trade Center and they weren’t going to let it happen again. They acted quickly and without concern for their own survival. They put the lives of the Americans on the ground ahead of their own. Although quite upset by the movie, I also left feeling rather proud to be an American. The people on the plane were scared, but they didn’t let that stop them. They did everything they possibly could to help prevent further destruction.

The Titanic sank in 1912 and the first major Hollywood production on the event, a docudrama in 1953, was exactly 41 years after the sinking. In 1997, when the record-breaking movie “Titanic” was released, most of the survivors had passed away. A new generation doesn’t have the fresh scars that tear open when confronting a tragedy on screen. The movie “Pearl Harbor” is another example. Hollywood focused on a love story around the calamity, and was able to do so since the Japanese bombing of the American naval base took place over 50 years after the release.

“United 93” is in theaters a mere five years after the events it is based on occurred. Some said it’s too soon, and they’re right.

However, the movie is not a drama, a comedy or a love story like the above movies. There is no Leonardo Dicaprio or George Clooney, instead only unknown actors. Yet, it lacks interviews with family members or facts of the exact number of fatalities or what the government’s reaction was. Because it was made too soon, family members are obviously not ready to talk about their loss and while the government is still reacting to the terrorism that occured and fighting a war.

Further, the movie is strange because in real life, no solution has occurred. America is still fighting the terrorists and the end to the war is not in sight. The main terrorist behind the 9/11 acts, Osama Bin Laden, is not captured.

I am sure I was not the only one who left the theater with the same feeling I had when I watched the news on that tragic day five years ago. I left feeling like I do not want to step foot on an airplane for a long time. I felt like our country should be in a full out war against terrorism. It reminded me how evil the Islamic fundamentalists of al-Qaeda are, and how severely they want to eliminate western civilization. It reminded me why America is currently in a war.

The movie had no happy ending, and even though it was made inappropriately early – it was made with good intentions. If nothing else, Americans will remember that they have enemies, enemies who still need to be eliminated.