United 93 · reception & legacy

2006 · Paul Greengrass

How United 93 has been received, argued over, and remembered.

The arc

Released just four and a half years after 9/11 to cries of 'too soon' — a Manhattan theater famously pulled the trailer after audience complaints — it's now widely regarded as the definitive film about that day and one of the best-reviewed films of the 2000s, earning Greengrass a Best Director Oscar nomination.

What's debated

The perennial debate: is it a vital act of memorial or an ordeal no one should have to sit through — the film everyone calls a masterpiece while admitting they can never watch it again?

Its footprint

It became the reference point for the whole 'too soon?' conversation about dramatizing real tragedy, and its real-time, handheld docudrama approach became the template imitators reach for when filming recent history.

Where it stands

A fixture of best-of-the-2000s lists and the standard answer to 'greatest film you'll only ever watch once.'

★ Did you know? Ben Sliney, the FAA's National Operations Manager who ordered all U.S. air traffic grounded on 9/11 — his first day in that job — plays himself in the film, as do a number of real air traffic controllers and military personnel.