Five years after events that changed the course of modern history, cinema is about to tell a story of September 11, 2001. Curiously, it is British director Paul Greengrass (Bloody Sunday) who takes line honours with a film that is as distressing as the event itself. This is the story of the fourth flight, United 93, in which hijackers were overwhelmed by its passengers, forcing the aircraft to the ground. Instead of reaching its target, the plane crashed into a Pennsylvanian farm.

Knowing this, and there will be few who don’t, does not diminish the movie experience for a second. United 93 reveals like a class-act thriller, building upon what began as a normal day for passengers, airline officials, military and air-traffic control alike. As events spiral – we know what’s happening, they do not - Greengrass ratchets up tension by immersing us in their confusion. It’s a bewildering experience: verité with an element of look-out-behind-you from knowing what they don’t. Literally. In one telling scene, controllers are looking the wrong way when we see the first plane hit the World Trade Centre behind them.

In truth, this isn’t so much a film as it is an anxiety attack. The overwhelming reality of Greengrass’s production – from the casting of unknowns to a narrative based on recorded transcripts – is tantamount to being on board the doomed flight itself. Watching United 93 is an exceedingly traumatic and claustrophobic occasion, and not one for the faint-hearted. A more terrifying film is hard to imagine. Warning: if you plan seeing this within hours of boarding a flight (as I did), don’t. You will regret it.

// COLIN FRASER