A controversial film that depicts the brief, doomed journey of United Airlines Flight 93 opened in Canada Friday, after evoking reactions that ranged from outrage to deep appreciation this week in the U.S.

The movie, "United 93," has been described as the film no one wants to see.

Not surprising, considering the eerie, morbid trailers that depict panicked passengers in a plane that is about to go down, the scenes set to a macabre soundtrack.

We already know the end of the story that this film sets out to tell.

The passengers aboard the flight from Newark to San Francisco will realize something has gone horribly wrong. They will storm the cockpit, fighting to regain control of the plane from hijackers, and eventually it will crash in a Pennsylvania field, killing everyone aboard.

Many critics are raving about "United 93," despite fears that its release comes too soon after the events of Sept. 11, 2001.

CTV's Denelle Balfour went to one of the film's first Canadian public screenings, at a downtown Toronto movie theatre, and said audiences were deeply moved.

"There weren't very many dry eyes at the end of the movie," she told CTV Newsnet. "We spoke to people when they came out of the theatre and a lot of people just weren't ready to speak to us about the film. Some said they simply were speechless."

Elsa Strong, whose sister lost her life aboard flight 93, has become an advocate for the film, saying it helped her family gain a better understanding of the last few moments of her sister's life.

"We all felt such a strong sense of relief after seeing the movie, that it had been done so well," Strong told Keiler.

CTV's film critic Richard Crouse described the film as difficult to watch, but well worth the effort.

"It's a harrowing watch," Crouse said. "It's done in real time and it is a movie that I thought perfectly captured both the calm and the chaos of that tragic day."

Crouse gave the film a rare four-star endorsement, while critic David Denby wrote a glowing review in the New Yorker.

"'United 93' is a tremendous experience of fear, bewilderment, and resolution, and, when you replay the movie in your head afterward, you are likely to think that (director and writer Paul Greengrass) made all the right choices," Denby writes.

Both Crouse and Denby agree Greengrass was successful in his bid to put viewers in the passenger seat along with the doomed travelers. He avoids emotional manipulation and provides no background story to the passengers, no "little girl with a teddy bear," as Crouse says, to capture the anonymous nature of travelling.

Greengrass even brings a cast of actors you've probably never seen before to add to the anonymous nature of the players in the event. Some of the air traffic controllers even play themselves in the film.

The result is a gripping portrayal of a true story -- the type that's difficult to watch but impossible to turn away from.

"This film really sets it up so you feel like you're one of the passengers on the plane," Crouse said. "So when the hijacking actually happens about an hour into the film, you feel like you're in the action. It is an incredible film."

"United 93" premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival in New York this week. The families of all 40 of the victims supported the making of the film, and many of them were in the audience as it debuted.

According to reports, there were audible sobs and gasps, and many were weeping as they watched the film.

Keiler said some moviegoers were relieved to learn that Universal Pictures will donate 10 per cent of the box office take brought in over opening weekend to build a memorial near the Pennsylvania crash site.

The film, though only the first of what is expected to be many depicting the events surrounding Sept. 11, is the first major movie to be released so soon after the tragedy.

Oliver Stone's film, "World Trade Centre," is scheduled for release this summer.