Lyrics
If blood will flow when fresh and steel are one
Drying in the color of the evening sun
Tomorrow's rain will wash the stains away
But something in our mind will always stay
On and on the rain will fall
On and on the rain will fall
Perhaps this final act was meant to clinch a lifetime's argument
That nothing comes from violence and nothing ever could
For all those born beneath an angry star
Lest we forget how fragile we are
On and on the rain will fall
Like tears from a star
(Like tears from a star)
On and on the rain will say
How fragile we are
(How fragile we are)
If blood will flow when fresh and steel are one
Drying in the color of the evening sun
Tomorrow's rain will wash the stains away
But something in our mind will always stay
On and on the rain will fall
Like tears from a star
Like tears from a star
On and on the rain will say
How fragile we are
How fragile we are
On and on the rain will fall
The rain will fall
(How fragile we are)
The rain will fall
(How fragile we are)
The rain will fall
(How fragile we are)
The rain will fall
Drying in the color of the evening sun
Tomorrow's rain will wash the stains away
But something in our mind will always stay
On and on the rain will fall
On and on the rain will fall
Perhaps this final act was meant to clinch a lifetime's argument
That nothing comes from violence and nothing ever could
For all those born beneath an angry star
Lest we forget how fragile we are
On and on the rain will fall
Like tears from a star
(Like tears from a star)
On and on the rain will say
How fragile we are
(How fragile we are)
If blood will flow when fresh and steel are one
Drying in the color of the evening sun
Tomorrow's rain will wash the stains away
But something in our mind will always stay
On and on the rain will fall
Like tears from a star
Like tears from a star
On and on the rain will say
How fragile we are
How fragile we are
On and on the rain will fall
The rain will fall
(How fragile we are)
The rain will fall
(How fragile we are)
The rain will fall
(How fragile we are)
The rain will fall
I think Sting is a really great artist, whose music is nowadays hated a bit too much, because it is becoming more and more clear that the guy is a bit of a douchebag. Based on Fragile clip, posted above, he is also clearly unaware that he comes off as a douchebag. That does not change the fact that Fragile is a brilliant song, though how it is ranked under Fields of Gold, or Russians I don't understand. The fact that Radio 2 doesn't even allow you to vote for Stolen Car, Sting's best and sexiest song, is even more ridiculous. Fragile especially made a big impression on me when I heard Sting sing it during the memorial concert for the victims of 9/11. I thought it was very appropriate. In fact now I actually cannot remember any other performance of that concert, even though I am sure I watched it whole. This also explains the movie I chose to link this song too.
The Movie: United 93 (Paul Greengrass, 2006)
In a previous post I wrote about my distaste for Greengrass' aesthetic in Bloody Sunday. United 93 has some of the same problems, but is a far better movie. That's partly because his style is much more understated here. This movie does not look like a live news report of the events on 9/11 as they unfolded. Greengrass makes it pretty clear that he has staged everything, that what we are watching is Greengrass' recreation of what happened on 9/11. But, let's be fair, his aesthetic here is still very close to that of Bloody Sunday. I didn't like United 93 much more than Bloody Sunday, because Greengrass' stylistic choices here are all that significantly different. This is no Captain Phillips, which is by far Greengrass' best film, and one of the best films of last year. No, I probably like United 93 much more, because I am far more interested in 9/11 than in Bloody Sunday. That has simply made a much bigger impact on my life.
9/11 was as far as I can remember the first truly major event of which I was conscious that it was a major event, and that I could think about and discuss with some intelligence. And well, that's what we did in high school. It is rather dumb and cliché to say it, but the event was an icebreaker for us, freshmen. The terrorist attacks happened in the first month, of my first year at high school. We were all still rather confused by these new surroundings and new people we met. 9/11 was the first thing to give us some common ground, and to create some sort of connection between us. That the event was so interesting for us, at least for me, certainly also had something to do with the fact that it mirrored our lives. It was clear that high school was the beginning of something new that would have an major, but uncertain effect on our life. It also seemed clear that 9/11 meant pretty much the same for the world as a whole. In other words, it made the beginning of high school even more exciting and confusing than it would have been on its own. I am aware that this sounds like the set-up of a rather dumb coming of age movie, but I couldn't help it. In any case as I grew older, I realized more and more what a truly important event this was. Many of the big political and societal developments of my teenage and adult life can in some way be traced back to these terrorist attacks. Lastly, as a Media student I of course learned about how much of an impact the attacks had on the media landscape as a whole. I will probably discuss that in more detail in some later post.
What I liked most about United 93 is how it showed how sudden the attacks, and the change they caused, were. The movie takes its time. It starts by showing what an ordinary day 9/11 seemed to be. It basically starts as a documentary about the ordinary labor necessary for modern air travel to function. We see the low maintenance workers at the airport helping the travelers, or fueling the plane. We see the pilots preparing for their flight. And in the various air traffic centers we see various technicians working to ensure that every plane's path is as smooth as possible. At the same time, the movie puts the viewer in the position of an air traveler. This is really the most authentic movie about how it is to be at an airport. We hear snippets of conversation, see faces we'll only half remember later, and that would under ordinary circumstances be forgotten the next day. As the day progresses, and it becomes clearer and clearer that something is wrong, it is very interesting to see how these ordinary people try to solve and readjust to the new situation. All of the other movies about 9/11 look back at the event with the knowledge that 9/11 happened. United 93 does not do that. It is not interested in symbolism at all. It just wants to show how the events unfolded, and how bizarre and shocking they truly were to the people who were most closely connected to the attacks. Therefore the movie, despite us knowing the outcome, becomes a very tense thriller. At least until the hijackers kidnap the last plane, United 93, and we focus mostly on the passengers in the plane. The movie now becomes far lesser. Partly because it becomes an action/disaster movie and Greengrass' style is not very suited for that. I thought the hijack itself was a very badly directed scene. And partly for the same reasons I discussed in Bloody Sunday. There I wrote that If you present your movie as an authentic depiction of Bloody Sunday, and then have actors portraying real people, you kind of imply that the emotions of the actors and the real people are interchangeable. Here that becomes even more problematic, because whenever he can Greengrass does not even cast actors. Ben Sliney, the head of the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) at the time, is playing himself for example. I think that this, and other examples, have rather problematic implications for Greengrass ideas on authenticity, which is why I'll never really like this film very much.
9/11 was as far as I can remember the first truly major event of which I was conscious that it was a major event, and that I could think about and discuss with some intelligence. And well, that's what we did in high school. It is rather dumb and cliché to say it, but the event was an icebreaker for us, freshmen. The terrorist attacks happened in the first month, of my first year at high school. We were all still rather confused by these new surroundings and new people we met. 9/11 was the first thing to give us some common ground, and to create some sort of connection between us. That the event was so interesting for us, at least for me, certainly also had something to do with the fact that it mirrored our lives. It was clear that high school was the beginning of something new that would have an major, but uncertain effect on our life. It also seemed clear that 9/11 meant pretty much the same for the world as a whole. In other words, it made the beginning of high school even more exciting and confusing than it would have been on its own. I am aware that this sounds like the set-up of a rather dumb coming of age movie, but I couldn't help it. In any case as I grew older, I realized more and more what a truly important event this was. Many of the big political and societal developments of my teenage and adult life can in some way be traced back to these terrorist attacks. Lastly, as a Media student I of course learned about how much of an impact the attacks had on the media landscape as a whole. I will probably discuss that in more detail in some later post.
What I liked most about United 93 is how it showed how sudden the attacks, and the change they caused, were. The movie takes its time. It starts by showing what an ordinary day 9/11 seemed to be. It basically starts as a documentary about the ordinary labor necessary for modern air travel to function. We see the low maintenance workers at the airport helping the travelers, or fueling the plane. We see the pilots preparing for their flight. And in the various air traffic centers we see various technicians working to ensure that every plane's path is as smooth as possible. At the same time, the movie puts the viewer in the position of an air traveler. This is really the most authentic movie about how it is to be at an airport. We hear snippets of conversation, see faces we'll only half remember later, and that would under ordinary circumstances be forgotten the next day. As the day progresses, and it becomes clearer and clearer that something is wrong, it is very interesting to see how these ordinary people try to solve and readjust to the new situation. All of the other movies about 9/11 look back at the event with the knowledge that 9/11 happened. United 93 does not do that. It is not interested in symbolism at all. It just wants to show how the events unfolded, and how bizarre and shocking they truly were to the people who were most closely connected to the attacks. Therefore the movie, despite us knowing the outcome, becomes a very tense thriller. At least until the hijackers kidnap the last plane, United 93, and we focus mostly on the passengers in the plane. The movie now becomes far lesser. Partly because it becomes an action/disaster movie and Greengrass' style is not very suited for that. I thought the hijack itself was a very badly directed scene. And partly for the same reasons I discussed in Bloody Sunday. There I wrote that If you present your movie as an authentic depiction of Bloody Sunday, and then have actors portraying real people, you kind of imply that the emotions of the actors and the real people are interchangeable. Here that becomes even more problematic, because whenever he can Greengrass does not even cast actors. Ben Sliney, the head of the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) at the time, is playing himself for example. I think that this, and other examples, have rather problematic implications for Greengrass ideas on authenticity, which is why I'll never really like this film very much.
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