By Dan Dunn
Special to the Daily Press

The movie: United 93
The director: Paul Greengrass
The stars: David Alan Bashe, Trish Gates, Ben Sliney

Several days have passed since I screened “United 93” and I’ve since spent quite some time staring at a blank Word document, trying to summon the composure, a level objectivity — hell, some adequate words to occupy this space. As you can see, I’m struggling mightily with the task at hand, which has led to an even greater appreciation for what filmmaker Paul Greengrass (“Bloody Sunday,” “The Bourne Supremacy”) has accomplished with his haunting, cinéma vérité-style account of what might have transpired aboard the doomed titular vessel.

We’re five years removed from that most infamous day, September 11, 2001, yet for most of Americans there remains a powerful sense of bewilderment, a debilitating disquietude. As hard as it is to reflect upon 9/11, imagine the degree of difficulty in effectively dramatizing the day’s events in a feature-length motion picture. But Greengrass has done so eloquently and with unflinching commitment to verisimilitude. Working closely with victims’ families, ground personnel and members of the government-appointed 9/11 Commission, Greengrass pieced together a gripping narrative deeply rooted in verifiable truths. His attention to detail of the goings-on at various command centers on the ground is extraordinary, but the delicate handling of that which is unknown — the actions and reactions of the people aboard that plane — is a testament to the tremendous lengths this filmmaker went to fully absorb the subject matter. Nobody knows what really happened up there, but Greengrass and his cast of little known actors who play the passengers, crew and hijackers certainly make a strong case for their chronicle of events. There were heroes and there were villains, and this movie presents both with deep nuance. The passengers who stormed the cockpit did so as a last ditch effort to save themselves; their killers were equally resolute in carrying out their mission.

Watching the tragedy unfold again, in real time, is heart wrenching. And while many have raised objections to the release of “United 93” on the grounds that it’s exploitative or is arriving in theaters too soon, I believe history will judge Greengrass’s film and the timing kindly. As Allison Vadhan, daughter of UA 93 passenger Kristin White Gould, offers in the production notes, “It’s never going to be over for us families who’ve lost loved ones. It’s never going to be over for the country, anyone who witnessed it on TV. It’s always going to be touchy, awkward … and something that a part of us don’t want to see again. But I feel the more films, the better. We can’t forget. We have to remember what happened, why it happened. And we can’t fool ourselves into thinking that it won’t happen again if we forget about it.”

(Rated R. Running time: 111 minutes)