Review: Fahrenheit 9/11
Jun. 27th, 2004 03:13 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
anotheranonFirst off: I'm glad I ordered advance tickets. I expected the movie to be popular, but not THAT popular! Myself, D., and a group of friends saw it in the large (posh, comfy, pretty) auditorium at the AFI Silver, and there was crowding and lines all around.
I enjoyed it. Moore kept his usual in-your-face tactics to a minimum, and if you can get past the obvious anti-Bush bias, there are some actual facts in there!
Michael Moore is unashamedly bias; he admitted as such in a promotional interview on the Daily Show this week, and the fact should be obvious to anyone who is familiar with his work. If you're not - ok, he is. But that doesn't mean that some of his stuff isn't right on the money:
The movie contains footage of Congressional complaints about voter disenfranchisement after the FL debacle in the 2000 election, and I'd never seen any of it before. Moore does often "edit strategicially", but this footage seemed to be very straightforward.
Also included is an interview with the the writer of House of Bush, House of Saud, a book I highly recommend because it presents the clear financial/business ties between the Bush family and the Saudi royal family. At the very least, it presents a severe conflict of interest; at worst it suggest that the current administration will cheerfully choose their Saudi oil buddies over the American people.
More interesting stuff: a discussion regarding how the Bush administration has worked to keep the U.S. population in a state of low-grade fear through dubious "terror alerts" and how the word "terrorist" is rather too freely thrown around to describe everything from real terrorists to peace protestors. The footage of soldiers on the ground in Iraq presents a sympathetic view of the troops - basically good kids caught in a horrible situation that they weren't prepared for and weren't told the truth about - but I would like to know about the procurement/editing of the footage before I get too wound up about it.
Cons: I could really do without Moore's reading the Patriot Act to the Capitol building through a bullhorn and accosting Congresspeople to get them to urge their kids to join the military (I don't think parents can make their over 18 kids do anything!) This is what I mean when I say that Moore's bombast sometimes shoots his message in the foot. Awfully cathartic to watch, if you agree with him, but looks sort of pathetic.
Moore also included lengthy footage of Bush on the morning of 9/11, looking like a deer caught in the headlights when he's told by his Secret Service dude about the airplanes. Given that I think many of us had the same reaction, I can sympathise, but only so much - this man is the President of the U.S., fer Chrissakes, and is supposed to keep his head on in an emergency!! One of the members of a mailing list I'm on suggested that it was at this moment that "Cheney became president". Maybe a fair assessment, considering...
There wasn't much in this movie that I hadn't read about/seen/was aware of before, but Moore brings it together neatly and coherently. Again, take with a large chunk of salt, but I think it's worth seeing.
I enjoyed it. Moore kept his usual in-your-face tactics to a minimum, and if you can get past the obvious anti-Bush bias, there are some actual facts in there!
Michael Moore is unashamedly bias; he admitted as such in a promotional interview on the Daily Show this week, and the fact should be obvious to anyone who is familiar with his work. If you're not - ok, he is. But that doesn't mean that some of his stuff isn't right on the money:
The movie contains footage of Congressional complaints about voter disenfranchisement after the FL debacle in the 2000 election, and I'd never seen any of it before. Moore does often "edit strategicially", but this footage seemed to be very straightforward.
Also included is an interview with the the writer of House of Bush, House of Saud, a book I highly recommend because it presents the clear financial/business ties between the Bush family and the Saudi royal family. At the very least, it presents a severe conflict of interest; at worst it suggest that the current administration will cheerfully choose their Saudi oil buddies over the American people.
More interesting stuff: a discussion regarding how the Bush administration has worked to keep the U.S. population in a state of low-grade fear through dubious "terror alerts" and how the word "terrorist" is rather too freely thrown around to describe everything from real terrorists to peace protestors. The footage of soldiers on the ground in Iraq presents a sympathetic view of the troops - basically good kids caught in a horrible situation that they weren't prepared for and weren't told the truth about - but I would like to know about the procurement/editing of the footage before I get too wound up about it.
Cons: I could really do without Moore's reading the Patriot Act to the Capitol building through a bullhorn and accosting Congresspeople to get them to urge their kids to join the military (I don't think parents can make their over 18 kids do anything!) This is what I mean when I say that Moore's bombast sometimes shoots his message in the foot. Awfully cathartic to watch, if you agree with him, but looks sort of pathetic.
Moore also included lengthy footage of Bush on the morning of 9/11, looking like a deer caught in the headlights when he's told by his Secret Service dude about the airplanes. Given that I think many of us had the same reaction, I can sympathise, but only so much - this man is the President of the U.S., fer Chrissakes, and is supposed to keep his head on in an emergency!! One of the members of a mailing list I'm on suggested that it was at this moment that "Cheney became president". Maybe a fair assessment, considering...
There wasn't much in this movie that I hadn't read about/seen/was aware of before, but Moore brings it together neatly and coherently. Again, take with a large chunk of salt, but I think it's worth seeing.
