United 93

PART ONE:

I think that United 93 was by far the most toughing movie that we have watched.  Obviously, seeing as this class is 'history through film', each movie is about a historical event.  However, I think this movie was the most toughing because this happened in our generation.  Although we were too young to remember what happened, this affected our parents, our cousins, our aunts and uncles, our grandparents.  This was the first film that really had a direct impact on the people that we are still surrounded with.  Honestly, I never really knew much about 9/11.  This might be the most embarrassing thing I could say and I know that I should be ashamed of myself for this, but up until watching this film, I was unaware that there were four planes on 9/11.  My completely ignorant self thought that there were only two planes that crashed into the two twin towers.  However, in my defense, I do think that that is what people first think of when they think of 9/11.  I liked that this movie, though, brought light to the not so talked about part of 9/11 that was still extremely important and tragic.  I also liked how real this movie felt.  Although I don't think it was necessary to show a three minute clip of a woman putting on her lip balm, I do like how the director focused on showing that these were regular people.  Regular people boarding a regular flight doing regular things.  None of them knew what was coming.  They were all average Joe's.  I think that is why this film was so powerful.  It was so crazy to think that this happened and that it wasn't fiction made for pure entertainment.  This movie left me shaking and really opened my eyes what 9/11 really was and how awful it was.

PART TWO:

This movie filled me with hope.  Unfortunately, sometimes it takes a tragic event to feel safe, but now I can say that I never feel unsafe on a flight.  This event showed me that our country is extremely strong and capable of anything.  We live in one of the strongest countries in the world, and although on 9/11 it didn't seem that way, I know in my heart that we have gained the skill and intelligence needed for a catastrophic event like this to never happen again.  

PART THREE:

We should never forget the lives we lost that day.  We should never forget the vulnerability and sadness that an entire nation felt that day.  We should never forget how weak the entire nation was that day.  In order to be strong, to prosper, to move forward, we need to remember our weakest points.  If we forget about this, we will forget about everything we gained from it- which were the tools needed to make this country safer and stronger.