From Agee, to Kael, to...Ham?
I won't tell all the action, but I will say that when they beat down that first terrorist, it was quite possibly the most satisfying, cinematic moment I've ever experienced. I'm not sure what that says about me, but it felt good.
Watching the terrorists' faces drop as they realize they won't be able to complete their mission for god-- priceless. The terrorists are portrayed mercilessly. They celebrate as the news of the World Trade Center attacks comes over the cockpit radio. They stab passengers, slit the throat of a stewardess saying, "let's go ahead and kill her. We don't need her," and strike an EMT for trying to attend to bleeding passengers.
I know the movie has a lot of people talking about whether it's appropriate to make money off the story of 9/11, if we're being exploited emotionally, if we're ready for a movie like this.
I didn't feel like the movie was exploitative. There are no big stars saving the day single-handedly. There are many flawed, scared men and women who manage to do something very, very brave, but there also is not a lot of sentimentality.
The movie is stark, unadorned. The story speaks for itself. And, the people of Flight 93 and the rest of the victims of 9/11 deserve to have it told.
For all those reasons, it is hard to watch, but you should watch it.
Well. We hope that wingers across the land have the cajones to leave their respective basements, bravely plunk down ten bucks, and show those swarthy terrorists what's what -- that real Americans don't fold in the face of adversity, etc...
The real reason to see the movie, according to Ms. Ham, is that people (like Ms. Ham) are just that dimwitted that they need to be reminded that a couple of planes hit some pretty important buildings:
But remembering it doesn't always make the whole surreal thing much less surreal, and I imagine many folks who weren't in NYC or D.C. that day feel the same way. Something that bizarre and weighty and horrible really requires that I just sit down and take it all in sometimes, concentrate on it, to remember that it all actually happened, that there really are more than 3,000 people in the ground because of that day.
Ah, young Ms. Ham, the carnage didn't end there. And when Iraq: Well, That Was a Costly Mistake comes out, you'll remember "that there really are more than [100,000] people in the ground because of that day" too.
3 Comments:
Interesting how you're "angry" at Miss Ham....but how angry are you at the terrorists ?
It's interesting how you compartmentalize your rage.
On the one hand, you believe there's no reason to be in Iraq.
OK, that's your little opinion.
But why does that make the reaction to the suffering of 9/11 any less legitimate ?
I thought Miss Ham's review of the film was insightful.
But I guess since you believe the MOSSAD was behind 9/11, you don't have much sympathy for the suffering of that day.
Fuck the Jews, right ??
I'm irritated with Miss Ham for primarily two reasons: the usual conservative trope that Americans (liberals in particular) need a "reminder" of what happened on 9/11. That's absurd and, if were true, pathetic.
Second, the assertion that she found the killing of a terrorist "quite possibly the most satisfying, cinematic moment I've ever experienced" is terribly disturbing. What that means is this: She's reacting to the film as if it were nothing more than a standard-issue shoot 'em up (where there are no human, real consequences) -- which it's not.
How can she be "satisfied" when she knows damn well that every passenger on that plane is doomed?
Or had she forgotten?
My crack about Iraq was only to suggest that conservatives have a lovely habit of discussing 9/11 -- an event horrific enough on its own, that most of them, by the way, witness from the comfort of The Heartland -- without mentioning what followed (a hideous war). So, I ask you, who's compartmentalizing now?
Lastly, seeing as how I actually was in New York on that awful day (that was before the GOP exploited the place for a convention, remember?), your suggestion that I lack "sympathy" for what occured is beyond reprehensible. I imagine you believe that you, and you alone, have a patent on suffering and sympathy.
Buddy, you do not.
As for Mossad... is that really worth addressing?
I'd really love to know who produced that film.
To me, it looks like a way to legitimize further the official "Let's Roll" story.
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