Categories: uncategorized
Date: 25 May 2009 08:30:20
Back when Woolworths was closing down, we made a number of shopping trips to grab bargains. I made some purchases which I probably otherwise wouldn't have done, including the DVD of "United 93". It probably isn't a strong endorsement of a product for it to feature on the shelves of a dying retailer (I noticed plenty of copies of Lee Mead's CD). I continue to be passionate about anything aviation related - sadly, for aircraft to play a significant part in a movie, it has to be depicting either war or a disaster ...
I think that "United 93" told its story well, from a particular perspective. The confusion on the ground was effectively communicated, and then as the focus shifted to events on board United 93, I felt that what we were given was as reasonable a reconstruction as we could have hoped for. I was reminding my son (who was one at the time) that on that day we were staying at the Malcolm Sargent House in Prestwick. We drove through to Ayr, to spend some time in a park. Radio 2 was playing in the car. We could sense that something had happened. Normal programming had been suspended. There was a report of an aircraft crashing into one of the World Trade Towers, and then that every flight in the USA had been grounded. It was only when we got back to the house, and saw on the television in the sitting room the horrific footage, that we began to appreciate the enormity of the catastrophe.
It was the towards the end of the Proms season, and I tried that evening to listen to a broadcast of Verdi's Requiem, hoping for some meeting of music and emotion. In truth, I was disappointed, but I was probably too distracted by having to supervise my children playing. I do remember, probably later, Leonard Slatkin, then chief conductor of the BBC SO, introducing a special performance of Samuel Barber's "Adagio for Strings", explaining how for Americans it was played at times of great sadness.