For a lot of us, the memory of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks is still fresh in our minds.

There are reminders everywhere of what happened.

Every Sept. 11 that passes by on the calendar.

Every time an old movie on television shows the twin towers still standing.

Every time a news program comes on that plays footage of the towers' collapse.

After all, we are still embroiled in a war that is fought, partially, in the victims' names and against terrorism.

So the idea of a movie about United Airlines Flight 93, the plane that crashed into a Pennsylvania field on Sept. 11, might seem horrifying and offensive.

The movie, entitled "United 93," is expected to come out at the end of this month and details the events that happened on the flight. The plane was intended to be part of the terror attacks but crashed as passengers fought to reclaim the plane.

The families of those killed on the plane gave their approval of the film, and some of the movie's profits will be given to a memorial for Flight 93.

But for some people, a movie relating to the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks has come too soon.

It's easy to understand that a movie about one of the most devastating moments in American history is going to evoke strong emotions and make some people feel like they're reliving it.

The Sept. 11 terrorist attacks were less than five years ago, while most historical movies are done decades after the event. The freshness of the attacks and the emotions they bring make the possibility of seeing it on the big screen seem obscene.

But if the movie is done right, it might be one of the best ways for people to see what happened on that plane and how it affected us.

The key is that the movie be done in the most tasteful and accurate way possible. Something done poorly will trivialize and demean the entire tragedy, leading the way for parodies, jokes and a total disregard of the event's solemnity.

The movie's Web site says the film's director "takes a careful hand and partially improvises the events."

It also says there isn't a perfect record of what happened that afternoon, only a sketch, so that's what will be portrayed in the movie.

The tendency for filmmakers when they are making movies about historical events is to overdramatize and include a subplot, such as a love story, to make it interesting.

Movies like "Pearl Harbor" and "Titanic" come to mind.

This movie needs to present the facts as clearly as possible and avoid making the events into something so over the top that people don't take it seriously.

The events of Sept. 11 need no dramatization.

Hopefully a movie being made now will be better than something done in 20 years, which will need to invent a subplot to keep it interesting.

No one is exactly sure what happened on that plane. What we know is that it crashed and dozens of people lost their lives.

Those lives deserve to be remembered and celebrated, and that's exactly what this movie should do.

Anything less would be a tragedy.