United 93: Message Lost

There are lots of messages you can take from United 93:

• Have the courage to do what’s right when a major challenge comes.
• Value every second because life is short.
• Fanatacism has no place in this world; let’s just get along.

No matter what message sticks with you, it seems like nothing stuck with a few people leaving the theater ahead of me on Sunday. As soon as the credits rolled, I took off, following most others in the third-full theater. The movie felt too real to care about who played who; why not suspend disbelief awhile longer.

Then reality sunk in. A middle-aged mother and her daughter in her early 20s were screaming at a 30-something man, and he was screaming back. From what I could tell following them up the escalator, the daughter was text messaging on her phone during this movie with the lights on the phone flashing. The man was sitting behind her and tried getting her to stop, apparently resorting to touching her at one point and allegedly scratching her shoulder. If the man did anything beyond tapping her on the shoulder, I don’t condone his use of force, but I’m completely baffled as to how one can text away during the film – especially in a theater where, upon leaving, you can look down a couple miles and see where the Twin Towers used to be.

The reality check hit. Fortunately the movie hit harder.