Miscellaneous Movie Musings

[innerSpaceman]

United 93 was about as non-political, non-patriotic as you can get. It was a thrilling, true-life, uber-danger adventure told in real time ... amazingly without jingoism or cheerleading or condemnation.

I think the hijackers were shown to be confused, bad men. But there was no judgment on Islam. The military was shown to be hamstrung and incompetent, but they somehow resisted putting the blame on anyone militarily or politically. (Though I don't see how any reasonable person could not have pictured George Bush sitting in a classroom as the military guys in the movie scrambled in vain to get the presidential authority needed to shoot down civilian aircraft).

As for too soon .... well, this movie played almost like a docudrama. And it was unique for having just about every character who lived through the day played in the movie by the actual person who was that character. This lent a credence to this movie that could never have been achieved otherwise ... and is certainly a good reason for producing the film close in time to the actual events portrayed.



And now, to go back on my word, I will say one more thing about Cast Away...

Originally Posted by tracilicious

I don't think a story necessarily needs a moral, but for me Cast Away's moral is triumph of the human spirit.

Another very good moral of the story is personal responsibility. Early in the film, Hanks is shown shying away from any emotional connection to his best friend vis-a-vis the pal's wife's battle with cancer. Upon return from a major survival experience four years later, a changed man, Hanks apologizes to his friend for not being there for him when his wife died. Hanks then apologizes to his remarried girlfriend for being absent for four years. He does not play the victim, but rather accepts personal responsibility for the events of his life and their oft-tragic consequences. He has grown as a man, and his exceptional level of personal responsibility is an uplifting inspiration.



I'll stop gushing about this film now. But the fact that mousepod has bumped it up his Netflix queue makes it all worthwhile, tee hee.