10 Incredible Movies You'll Never Watch Again (And Why)

2. United 93 (2006)

The story of the 9/11 terrorist atrocities was always going to inspire film-making, because art is most profoundly how we understand history. Or how we re-engage with it to make it accessible, but those stories were so deeply traumatic and so close and personal that catching the right balance was also always likely to be a challenge.

Paul Greengrass’ haunting, heartbreaking elegy to the passengers on United Airlines flight 93 manages the feat and it’s largely unprecedented. The film feels like a sort of waking funeral because the story has no hope and there’s no protective barrier between its start and its horrifying tragedy, You go in prepared and it wrings you out.

While it’s an important story to tell, it feels too personal and rewatching would feel like perverse, emotional profiteering. So it’s more like a haunting museum exhibit in the end.