too soon?

as i walked into the theater the other day to see spike's new joint i was confused by a trailer for a new movie. because i arrived midway thru the trailer, i wasn't too sure what it was about, who was in it, etc., but as i took my seat a rush of sadness hit me - omg, this is about one of the fourth 9/11 plane. my second thought - why would anyone want to make this into a feature film? every few days the tv trailers will come on during commercial breaks and my heart sinks . . .

as a child of the 80's i remember countless made for TV movies that depicted a hi-jacking or a kidnapping, etc., but never in my life do i recall these movies being played on the silver screen for the masses. these historical events had a worthwhile story that should be told - but they were never commercialized (is that a real word?) beyond the $$$'s made from tv land network commercial sales. A&E released a made for tv movie, which i don't recall hearing about, but fine it was made, that should be enough, right?

we are all familiar with the story - the passengers of united flight 93 fight the hijackers to prevent a catastrophic event. we all remember the story, we can all recall where we were when the events of that day unfolded - the pain of our nation was felt across the globe. during that phase of my career i worked for a PR firm that specialized in crisis communications and crisis response and we also represented one of the major aviation trade organizations, which created another layer of concern, not only was i an american effected by these events, but i would have to deal with the events on a day-to-day basis for months to come because of work.

9/11 should never be forgotten, but isn't it too soon and aren't the wounds of that fateful day too deep for the events to be recounted on a feature film? maybe i'm overly sensitive, maybe i am too concerned about the families of the passengers of that plane - although the movie was made with the families full cooperation. my question is this - why should film makers and producers feel that its okay to make money off of a day that devastated our country and changed the lives of countless people? five years is a long time, but five years is not enough time for popular culture to re-present a tragic moment in our history.

perhaps the families wanted the movie to be made in honor of the heroes of that flight, but what if they were not entirely involved in the process . . .

i know that people will give the static answer of "if you don't wanna watch it, don't," and depending on how i feel from april 28th until it leaves the theaters, i may or may not watch the movie. reliving the moments of fear, anxiety, etc. of that day aren't necessarily ones that i shun when a movie is based on a generic screenplay, but the reality of the story and the current news surrounding zacarias moussaoui's trial, its just a lot to digest.

lest we forget the events and the aftermath of that horrific day, but is the silver screen the best place to "memorialize (again not sure if that's a real word, but i'm gonna use it) and honor" the hero's of United 93?