'Sully' - Movie Review

It's only been eight years since the airplane crash that became known as the "Miracle on the Hudson" - multiple bird strikes took out both engines of an Airbus A320 three minutes after take-off from LaGuardia in New York. So many of us still remember that the captain landed the plane on the Hudson river. The reason it's referred to as a "miracle" is that all 155 people on board survived. The pilot, Chesley "Sully" Sullenberger was immediately lauded as a hero, but what most of us didn't realize was that for this spectacular piece of work the NTSB (National Transportation Safety Board) and the insurance company promptly tried to crucify him. Happily, the NTSB at least came around and now describes it as "the most successful ditching in aviation history."

The movie jumps around in time, starting at the crash, going back and forward as appropriate. Some movies do this poorly, but it's easy to follow in this case. One of the first things I noticed was the cinematography, which is simple in the best possible way: it's not flashy, but you see what you need to see, it looks really good, and there's nothing extra to distract you. That simplicity set the tone for the whole movie: it's an elegant and rewarding piece of work that I highly recommend, about a man who deserves (but probably doesn't want) all the recognition he's received.