At first it is unsettling to see the actual widows, parents and children of victims of United Airlines Flight 93 on the fourth anniversary of the terrorist hijacking, as the camera cuts to actors playing their loved ones on the airplane.
It’s equally jarring to hear Kiefer Sutherland, hero of the Counter-Terrorism Unit on the fictional action series “24,” as the narrator of this all-too-true story.
But the careful documentation of the film, the first dramatized re-creation of the Sept. 11 flight, eases any qualms.
“The Flight That Fought Back,” at 7 tonight on Discovery, is a narrated documentary that includes some 45 minutes of re-created scenes from before, during and after the flight. The film was made with cooperation from United Airlines and some family members of the passengers and crew of Flight 93.
Produced by documentary filmmakers Brook Lapping Productions in London, it is based on extensive research, the 9/11 Commission Report, cockpit voice recordings and phone messages. As well, an opening disclaimer notes, it draws on the “very personal conjectures” of friends and relatives of the deceased.
Re-enactments are, by definition, less than reality and more than imagined dramatizations. They live in that gray zone between news and entertainment, an area that rightly makes journalists nervous.
When done well, however, they add an important emotional dimension to the factual evidence that helps to convey a fuller truth. This one is done well.
“The Flight That Fought Back” is surprisingly respectful, judicious and unsentimental, a thoughtful blend of news reportage and human moments that underscores the tragedy. The producers wisely come clean on questions that may never be answered, observing in the narration and onscreen what is and isn’t conclusively known. (For instance, knives were found in the wreckage but it was never established whether they were carried on or placed on the plane in advance. Similarly, the film shows the hijackers getting into the cockpit, but notes it is unclear how they gained access.)
Like too many fictional disaster movies, this film opens with regular folks going about their regular lives, some running late for the airport, some calling home to say they’d switched to this earlier flight.
“It’s an ordinary American morning,” Sutherland begins, and we are introduced to the 33 passengers, seven crew and four terrorists as they endure the ordinariness of check-in and security procedures at Newark Airport.
Flight 93 taxied from the gate on time but sat on the runway for more than 40 minutes. That delay thwarted the terrorists’ plan of a simultaneous attack on the World Trade Center, the Pentagon and the Capitol. Passengers had time to learn about the other plane crashes, to conclude their hijacking was part of the same plot, and to concoct a plan.
The plane crashed in Shanksville, Pa., 15 minutes from its intended target. The film shares personal exchanges in the minutes before the crash, some for the first time.
Numerous images linger but among the most indelible is that of Elizabeth Wainio. As she takes deep breaths on the telephone with her stepmother, the 27-year-old sales manager remarks that she “should be talking.” She realizes these are her last minutes of life and feels she should spend them doing something more than looking at the beautiful blue sky and breathing. Actually, as depicted here, deep breathing may be the most eloquent way to go.
The film doesn’t dignify conspiracy theories or those who claim Flight 93 was shot down by the U.S. military.
But it does honor the memories of those who died. Sutherland reads the names of all 40 fallen heroes at the conclusion.
Following the 90-minute film, Discovery plans a special to be hosted by Tom Brokaw, in which the former NBC anchor interviews families of Flight 93 passengers.
TV critic Joanne Ostrow can be reached at 303-820-1830 or at jostrow@denverpost.com.
