Forget “Crash” and “Brokeback Mountain.” Universal’s upcoming film “United 93” might become the most talked-about movie in recent memory. The film, a no-glitz production of unknown actors reenacting the events of that day – in the airport, on the plane, in NORAD and air traffic control centers – is set to open April 28.

The release of the trailer last week caused a stir. Newsweek reported that Hollywood audience members began calling out, “Too soon!” and New York City theatergoers complained, prompting the AMC Loews theater on Manhattan’s Upper West Side to pull the trailer.

The early criticism of the film has already been plagued by disinformation, with many claiming that any dramatization of the events would be inherently insensitive to the victims’ families. As Newsweek reported, writer-director Paul Greengrass proceeded with the film only after securing the approval of every victim’s family, and Universal plans to donate 10% of its opening weekend gross to the Flight 93 National Memorial Fund. We can argue whether that’s enough, but you can’t contend that Universal hasn’t made a serious effort to be sensitive to the victims’ families.

Still, “it’s too soon. I just can’t watch it,” is likely to be a common reaction to this film, and one that’s hard to begrudge. The trailer feels like a gut punch, throwing you back to that morning, and all of the fear, horror, pain, and tears that came with it. The idea of going to the theater to experience that for two hours seems utterly counterintuitive – who would want to re-live the emotions of the worst day of their life?

And yet something about the objection “too soon” rankles. Movies aren’t just meant to make us feel good. Almost every film nominated for an Oscar tries to do a bit more than a fun Jerry Bruckheimer action movie or a sweet romantic comedy. The latest batch of Oscar nominees received salutes for showing America not necessarily what it wanted to see, but what filmmakers felt their audiences needed to see – racial tensions in Los Angeles, the plight of gay sheepherders, conspiracy theories about oil companies in the Middle East. Why is “United 93″‘s vivid portrait of America and its enemies different?

Mr. Greengrass’s choice of subject is particularly interesting, because the charge that “we’ve seen this all before” just isn’t accurate for this film. Unlike the other flights, all Americans saw of United Flight 93 was a charred crater in a Pennsylvania field. We heard about what happened, but never “saw” the events.

Of course, we’ve all been there in our mind’s eye. From the moment we learned what had happened that morning – that four planes were hijacked, but only three reached their targets – just about everyone thought about what it must have been like on that plane: the fear, the recognition that there was just about no chance of survival, the determination and bravery. For better or for worse, this movie will reenact for us what we have only imagined – the tense discussions, the prayers, the moment of resolution among those passengers.

Americans’ reaction to this film will be a fascinating measuring stick of our attitudes about that day and life in the post-September 11 world. Audiences may reject it. Will theatergoers pay money and spend two hours on a Saturday night to feel pain, and trauma, and fear and dread?

Or will they see it as a cinematic memorial service, a way of remembering and paying tribute to the ordinary Americans who saved God knows how many lives in the ground?

I suspect there’s a deep, unsatisfied hunger to see and celebrate the examples of courage in our current war. Hollywood hasn’t hesitated to provide us with suspicion, doubt, paranoia and gloom in “Fahrenheit 9/11” and “Syriana.” Which is fine. Michael Moore has a right to make his documentaries and George Clooney has a right to spin his conspiracy theories. But we’re not getting any cinematic efforts that celebrate what’s best about Americans since that awful Tuesday – the courage and honor of so many, from citizens to soldiers.

Let’s see the courage.

Mr. Geraghty, a contributing editor to National Review, is the author of a book on terrorism and voters that will be published in August 2006 by Simon and Schuster.