Digital Joe #6

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There isn't a single person out there who was not affected in some way by the events of September 11, 2001, either directly or indirectly. We all watched in horror as planes collided with the World Trade Center, the Pentagon and a field in Pennsylvania. It didn't matter it we were watching that morning unfold from a bed in California or a hotel room in Hong Kong. We, as human beings, all felt what was happening on the east coast.

In the days and weeks that followed, we had tributes to the victims and survivors. Songs were written about kicking ass. Movies and television shows were altered to remove any potentially offensive or hurtful references to terrorism or the WTC (the now-infamous "Spider-Man" trailer in which a plane was trapped in a web between the towers, for instance, disappeared off the face of the earth).

All these things made us feel good, or, at the very least, better about what had happened. And then life went on. Now, over four years later, the first 9/11 movie is poised to be released to American theaters. And people are crying foul.

There are many reports that when the trailer for Universal's "United 93" came on the screen in theaters last weekend, there was dead silence and the audience booed. Some people cried, others left the theater. They all complained, though, that it was still "too soon" to see this story on the screen. With all due respect to the people who lost their lives on that day and to those whose lives were forever changed, grow up.

Our film history is littered with movies based on real events, some even worse than 9/11. "Schindler's List" is arguably the most famous of these movies. It brought a cold, hard light onto the deaths of millions of people during the Holocaust. It didn't pussy-foot around what was going on. And did anyone yell at Steven Spielberg for directing it? That movie was potentially more hurtful than anything about September 11, but it was praised from all sides, earning more awards and accolades than anyone could have thought possible.

Both "JFK" and "Malcolm X" featured the assassinations of leaders, one white and one black. It was and remains a controversial issue, especially with Oliver Stone's version of the president's assassination. People bemoaned it and, ultimately, it has become nothing more than a footnote in film history.

The HBO movie "And the Band Played On" debuted in 1993 and dealt with the AIDS crisis in America, specifically the Regan administration's desire to label it a gay disease and push it out of the way. This movie is more relevant today than ever, considering AIDS is still spreading around the world. The same goes for the Oscar-winning "Philadelphia" (a movie I am extremely happy my mother drug my sister and I to over "Schindler's List").

All these movies, and many, many more, deal with real life events brought to the screen. Some are undoubtedly better than others (that's the nature of the world). The thing they all have in common is the ability to engender strong emotions from an audience. Someone might feel outrage at "JFK" or sadness for all the lives lost on the "Titanic". One of the great things about mass media is its ability to get the public to take a stand, whatever that stand might be. If a political policy angers you, it may lead to activism. If a disease scares, the outcome could be becoming more cautious. And it is makes us cry, so much the better.

There is nothing wrong with emotions. We, as a society, are completely hung up on what other people think of us and how we look to the world that we hold everything in until a disaster like a Columbine happens. We teach kids that, in order to be model citizens and to be successful, we need to suppress feelings. That's not the way to live. If we get scared, then it's time to confront the issue head on. It makes no sense to tuck our heads into the sand and pretend something didn't happen.

Yes, it might hurt, but that's part of life. We each have the opportunity to watch what we want to watch, read what we want to read and do what we want to do. If you don't want to see "United 93" (or any movie, for that matter), then by all means, don't see it. I personally won't hold it against you. But don't you dare tell me what I can watch or somebody else what they can produce.

This movie, from the trailer, is not exploitive. Trailers have been known to be deceiving from time to time, but I actually trust this one. The producers know that if this becomes another "Towering Inferno," they will lose any and all credibility with the audience. I wouldn't want to see that movie and I pity the person who tries to get something like that made. It won't fly.

And if you want to hear what the filmmakers think about "United 93," there's even a Q and A of sorts.

People, it's called freedom of speech. And yes, there are certain limits on decency. If this movie had come out in 2002, I would have called it too soon. If this was a summer tent pole picture, then we'd have a little more of an issue. But it's being released in April, away from the high-octane, explosion-a-minute pictures we all know to be summer flicks. From what I can tell, there is no "name" cast; this isn't an Oscar bait picture.

This is a story of heroes. People who may not have been the best looking or the smartest. People who had families like you and me. People whose only mistake that day was to get on the wrong plane. They weren't willing to take the hijacking sitting down. They did something about it. They fought until their final minute, knowing full well they were committing suicide. They are the heroes, the ones we should be celebrating with films like this. They are the ones we should know about and be seeing documentary after documentary about. They are the ones we should be talking about around the water cooler instead of who got booted off the wholly inconsequential "American Idol" last night.

It's sad that real heroes are shunned and booed while fictional "heroes" who need stunt men to take a fall are put on the cover of every magazine we have. What, tell me, does that say about our society?

It's damn pathetic, if you ask me.

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