The film Please Remove Your Shoes, released in 2010, documents the development of security theater in airports after 9/11. It shows how the Transportation Security Administration’s screening for commercial flights encouraged a false sense of security among passengers so that they are more likely to fly — without making anyone much safer. This conclusion is reinforced each time screeners fail another test by inspectors who sneak guns and other weapons past them.

The headline absurdity of the film is the annoyance passengers must endure for the charade of security. The requirement that passengers take off their shoes continues to baffle most people, but don’t forget the business about being forced to take all the electronic devices out of your bags and putting each of them in a separate bin — not the bin your shoes are in, because that might cause the plane to explode.