Missed connection.

Alonso Duralde describes United 93 as "emotional pornography," "repellent," "makes one's skin crawl," and a "manipulative snuff film" ["Airsick," May 23]. Non-sense. United 93 succeeds precisely by not engaging in the very action-thriller cliches Mr. Duralde accuses it of doing. With no pounding musical score, no passenger subplots, and no mention of al-Qaeda, Osama Bin Laden, the "war on terror," or a "let's roll" trumpet charge, the film accomplishes something I didn't think was possible--a 9/11 story devoid of spin.

JOHN HARDWICK Royal Oak, Mich.

Alonso Duralde implies that the filmmaker gave us gratuitous shots of everything from the calls to loved ones from the plane to images of the planes hitting the World Trade Center. First, they showed only one plane hitting the Trade Center--because at the time, we didn't know of the existence of the footage from the streets of the first plane crashing. And even this footage, essential to the story, was handled very briefly and absolutely not "in-your-face."

Second, the phone calls he mentions are also a very essential part of this very well-done retelling of this story--as this is the only factual part of the story from the plane that we have that can toll this story.

I agree that we don't know absolutely for sure what happened, but we do have a great deal of circumstantial evidence. We know from the calls that those aboard the plane felt compelled to do something once they realized this was a suicide mission. Duralde completely overlooks the heroics of what these people accomplished.

BRIAN K. THIBODEAUX Dallas, Texas