United 93 is a 2006 docudrama thriller film written and directed by Paul Greengrass. The film chronicles the events aboard United Airlines Flight 93, one of the four hijacked flights during the September 11 attacks and the only one not to hit its intended target due to the intervention of passengers and crew.

The film attempts to recount the hijacking and subsequent events in the flight with as much veracity as possible (there is a disclaimer that some imagination had to be used) and in real time (from the flight's takeoff). The film was made with the cooperation of many of the passengers' families, though not all agreed to participate.

United 93 premiered on April 26, 2006, at the Tribeca Film Festival in New York City, a festival founded to celebrate New York City as a major filmmaking center and to contribute towards the long-term recovery of Lower Manhattan. Several family members of the passengers aboard the flight attended the premiere to show their support.

The film opened in North America on April 28, 2006, to critical acclaim. Ten percent of the gross income from the three-day opening weekend was promised toward a donation to create a memorial for the flight's victims.[7] The total gross intake of United 93 was $31.4 million in the United States, and $76.3 million worldwide. The film also received two Academy Award nominations, including Best Director for Greengrass.

DETAILED PLOT

On the morning of September 11, 2001, four al-Qaeda terrorists Ziad Jarrah, Saeed al-Ghamdi, Ahmed al-Nami and Ahmed al-Haznawi pray in a Newark, New Jersey hotel, and after Jarrah makes a final phone call to his girlfriend, board United Airlines Flight 93, piloted by Captain Jason Dahl and First Officer LeRoy Homer Jr., at Newark International Airport.

Air traffic controllers determine that American Airlines Flight 11 has been hijacked and is heading toward New York City. Flight 93 takes off after a slight delay. Flight 11 crashes into the North Tower of the World Trade Center, and United Airlines Flight 175 is also hijacked and heads toward New York City. Air traffic controllers learn that American Airlines Flight 77 has also been hijacked and watch as Flight 175 crashes into the South Tower.

As the passengers are served breakfast on Flight 93, Jarrah hesitates to give the sign to start the hijacking. Via an ACARS message, Dahl and Homer are notified of the WTC attacks and to beware cockpit intrusion. The hijackers violently take control of the plane, stabbing a passenger before killing the pilots and a flight attendant. Jarrah begins piloting the aircraft, and redirects it towards Washington, D.C., to crash it into the United States Capitol. The hijackers jubilantly react to the WTC attack. While flight attendants Sandra Bradshaw and CeeCee Lyles unsuccessfully attempt to revive the stabbed passenger, Bradshaw sees the hijackers moving the bodies of the pilots.

After Flight 77 crashes into The Pentagon, FAA National Operations Manager Ben Sliney shuts down all United States air space and grounds all flights. Passengers on Flight 93 learn of the other attacks from family members via airphone. Realizing their plane is going to be used as a weapon, a number of the passengers organize an assault against the hijackers to retake the plane, with assistance from flight staff, arming themselves with makeshift weapons. Learning that one of their passengers is a pilot, they plan to have the pilot land the plane with assistance from the ground if they retake the plane. Seeing the group gather, the hijackers grow anxious. One passenger, attempting to counsel appeasement, is restrained by some of the passengers, while other passengers pray and make final calls to loved ones.

The passengers revolt, killing the two hijackers in the cabin. As Jarrah violently rocks the plane to throw the passengers off balance, they attempt to breach the cockpit, using a serving cart as a battering ram. The passengers breach the cockpit just as Jarrah puts the plane into a steep dive, and chaotically wrestle with the two remaining hijackers for control. The aircraft inverts and crashes into a Shanksville field, killing everyone aboard.