The film United 93 presents a harrowing rendition of the events that transpired on 9/11. The story is told from three different perspectives. First, are the terrorists who committed this vile atrocity. The movie begins with them leading prayers, arming themselves, and heading to the airport. The second is those in the FAA and the military who watched the situation unfold and tried to do something to stop it before it was too late. The third perspective is those on flight 93, passengers, pilots, and stewardesses who directly experience the hijacking.
The only one of these perspectives which can be confirmed to a true and accurate recounting is the second one; those working from government departments trying to stop the assault lived to tell the tale. The other two perspectives are reasonable depictions for sure, but the film solely points out that we will never know what happened on that flight.
The most effective medium the filmmakers used to put across their message was the telling of the story by showing the people involved. Even when the first two planes struck the towers, the focus only briefly shifted to a video of the destruction before returning to capture the reactions of the witnesses. No one character was the main focus of the film for a substantial amount of time, yet the personal interactions, encounters, actions, and emotions they showed left audiences feeling like they knew many of them.
The portrayal of the personal human tragedy involved was the perfect way to capture the essence and sentiments of the 9/11 terrorist attacks. While they were a significant threat to national security, the threat did not come close to that of a land invasion or repeated carpet bombing of major American cities. The pain and shock of this attack was felt personally by every American, whether they had loved ones in the towers/pentagon/planes or not. For every passenger on the plane, there were two or three million more Americans just like them. That is who the attacks hurt the most.