Saw Fahrenheit 9/11
Sunday, June 27, 2004 at 9:20AM 1 Comment From all the reading I'd done about Fahrenheit 9/11 over the last couple of weeks, I figured I'd pretty much already seen it. I was wrong. It is propagandistic (if that's a word), leaves out a few convenient details, occasionally over the top and all over the map, and should be required viewing for every American. I offered to buy a ticket for a GOP colleague of mine who didn't want one of his red cents going to support Michael Moore, but he wouldn't let me. To his credit, he wants to see the movie; he just doesn't want any money to change hands for him to do it.
Sure it's preaching to the choir. Sure it's stoking the already fired-up left. It made me mad. It would make anyone mad. The film does a great job of tallying the crimes of the Bush administration and presenting the content in a succinct and palatable way.
As for the charge that there's nothing new or uncovered by the film, anyone who doesn't follow politics closely will find much of the information to be new. I like to believe that I follow politics fairly closely and I had never heard about Bush's inaugural motorcade being pelted with eggs or the House members who could not get support from a single senator to protest the Florida recount. The footage of John Ashcroft belting some patriotic tune and Paul Wolfowitz slicking his hair back with his own saliva were pretty great. Most shocking - and completely revelatory - was Bush's sitting vacantly for seven minutes after the 9/11 attacks, totally paralyzed by inaction.
Many people who need to see this film never will. Still, there's no question that this film will influence the election. Maybe not influence enough to change the outcome, but influence nonetheless. It needs to be seen.
Reader Comments (1)
Can I just add -- in the NC theater where we were, it was being shown on 3 screens out of 22. Our theater looked about 70% full. AND, at the end, there was audience applause. I can't recall ever attending a movie where there was actual applause -- and I've seen a fair number of documentaries.