UA 93: The Road to Shanksville

With the nationwide release of United 93, the story of the tragic crash of the only 9/11 hijack plane not to reach it’s target has now become part of American popular history. The initial story of a heroic mutiny, led by the now-legendary battlecry of “Let’s Roll” by Oracle account manager Todd Beamer, immediately gripped the nation’s imagination. It returned hope and confidence to a people who had been let down by their multi-billion dollar intelligence and military defense systems, affirming that there were heroes among them, that they would stand up against any challenge and fight to the most bitter end.

But there were some who questioned the official narrative of Flight 93. Reports began to surface that residents of Shanksville, the small town just one mile from the crash site, had seen a second plane fly over just seconds after the crash. Yet only one mainstream news reporter, Will Bunch of the Philly Daily News, covered any of these eyewitness accounts. His articles (this is the latest) on the crash remain the only substantive enquiries made by an American journalist into the crash. Never ones to ignore a story being ignored by Big Media, we decided to take a trip down to Shanksville ourselves.

Shot while during research for our book, True Lies, GNN’s The Road To Shanksville looks at the wider socio-political issue of how mainstream news covered the initial stages of the administration’s response to 9/11. It asks the bigger questions raised by this story, namely: are there some stories that we, as a society, would rather not know? Does that fear of knowing benefit those in power?

But it also touches down at the crash site, featuring interviews with those very eyewitnesses who’s accounts of the “second plane” and other mysterious aspects of the crash are enough to make even the most cynical viewer wonder if the official story is actually the truth.

Featuring interviews with aviation expert Dr. Vernon Grose, BBC news producer Steven Williams, best-selling investigative journalist Greg Palast, Philly Daily News reporter Will Bunch and the people of Shanksville.

Credits

Directed by: Ian Inaba and Stephen Marshall

Produced by: Ian Inaba, Anthony Lappe, Stephen Marshall, Josh Shore

Edited by: Stephen Marshall

Score by: The Soulsavers

Made possible by a grant from the Nathan Cummings Foundation.

Posted by silverback
Co-founder of GNN. Music video and feature film director. Co-author of "True Lies." Director/shooter of "BattleGround." Arrested at the RNC shooting first narrative feature "This Revolution." New projects: A book, "Wolves in Sheep's Clothing: The New Liberal Menace in America," out now. A feature doc, "HolyWars," will be completed in Spring '08.