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Loach's Ireland, Greengrass's America

William Crawley | 16:28 UK time, Monday, 29 May 2006

loach.jpg 's account of Ireland's struggle for independence, the Palme d'Or at this year's film festival.

'Our film is a little step in the British confronting their imperialist past,' Loach said following his win. 'Maybe if we tell the truth about the past, we can tell the truth about the present.' The film, and it's 'subjective' approach to the period leading up to the Irish Civil War, is not without its , though. It'll be interesting to see how it plays in Northern Ireland when it's released here.

united.jpgAnother film by a British director looking at war -- in this case, the conflict described by George W Bush as 'the first war of the twenty-first century' -- is Paul 's , the story of the United Airlines flight hijacked on 9/11 that crashed near Shanksville, Pennsylvania, when passengers rose up to resist the terrorist plot to use the plane in an attack on the White House.

United 93 opens across the UK on 2 June. I'll be at a press screening of the film tomorrow morning, after which I'll be interviewing Alice Holan, the mother of , one of those heroic passengers who lost his life after trying to storm the plane's cockpit. I'll also be talking to Ben Sliney, the FAA director of operations on September 11, 2001, who plays himself in the film. It was who took the absolutely unprecedented decision -- on what was his first day in a new job -- to shut down American airspace on 9/11. I'll post my review tomorrow night.

Comments

  • 1.
  • At 12:42 AM on 30 May 2006,
  • wrote:

Your article was interesting. It was about time that Ireland's struggle for independence was chronicled. I hope the same could happen for Armenia, Cuba, and even the USA.

The film about 9-11-2001 was an heroic film because the passengers decided to fight instead of cower down [as the US Politicians would have wanted]. Regardless, I would have waited two decades before doing a film about 9-11-2001.

  • 2.
  • At 05:06 PM on 30 May 2006,
  • wrote:

United 93 was a worthwhile movie to see. Put me in a bad mood for a night, but I think we need to regain our anger over 9/11.

Still, some had objections to seeing United 93, like Roberto in his comment above, and I respond to them - this was an overdue film (and by the way, Sliney puts in a fantastic portrayal of himself in this role).

Now let's see how Director Oliver Stone does with the high-budget World Trade Center starring Nicholas Cage (release date August 2006).

  • 3.
  • At 01:56 PM on 31 May 2006,
  • Candadai Tirumalai wrote:

I was 10 when the British left India, in 1947. On a fair reckoning the British legacy in India is a divided one. Did Britain take more than it gave? Give as much as it took? Did colonialism in the British version have a warping effect on the Indian psyche, which it took some decades to undo? These are complex questions. Ken Loach has rightly said, "Maybe if we tell the truth about the past, we can tell the truth about the present". His sagacious remark applies to individuals and societies, to politics and history, and to religion, where truths may be hardest to confront.

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