Oh man, where to start? Finally on an entertainment news site the chance to comment on something political and having to do with Mr. Dubya.
Michael Moore first expressed his feelings towards George W. at the 2003 Oscars in his acceptance speech after winning the award for Best Documentary and Moore stood up and said, “I’ve invited my fellow nominees on the stage with us, and they are here in solidarity with me, because we like nonfiction. We like nonfiction, and we live in fictitious times. We live in a time when we have fictitious election results that elect a fictitious president.
“…We live in a time where we have a man sending us to war for fictitious reasons. Whether it’s the fictition of duct tape or the fictition of orange alerts, we are against this war, Mr. Bush! Shame on you, Mr. Bush, shame on you!”
At the time I was just as shocked as the Oscar audience, and pissed, as I couldn’t understand why someone would air dirty laundry on such a stage and couldn’t back up our attempts at redemption.
My opinion on Bush and the war has changed since, and while Fahrenheit 9/11 was no big surprise to me in its content, what it had to say was truly amazing as it laid out all the ties the Bush family has to the bin Laden family and how much money the Bush family and friends stood to gain from the Iraq War.
While informative, 9/11 looses its composure along the way as it points out the boobery of Bush and his administration, to the point where it almost seems like you are watching “Candid Camera,” and I know boobery isn’t exactly a word, but maybe Bush will put it in the dictionary appendix along with strategery, which will most likely look like this strategery if this film is any indication on how the Bush administration treats embarrassing evidence.
As far as the media coverage being swayed to show only the good, and avoid the bad of the war, Moore takes you to the battle lines and offers up several gruesome images of death from both sides. Images of children with their heads beat in, burned bodies, bones and blood, everything that shouldn’t be shown on TV unless accompanied by a strong warning label.
As far as whether or not you should see this film and how seriously you should take it, I really think Moore screwed up. While he has TONS of facts, and tons may be an understatement, he really goes over the top in what begins to reek of a personal vendetta against Bush.
As some examples, he takes the opening title sequence of “Bonanza” and morphs in the faces of Bush and his administration along with Prime Minister, Tony Blair, funny, but unnecessary. He also uses distinguishing music as his soundtrack to go along with what is being discussed such as the Go-Go’s “Vacation” after vehemently bashing Bush for his plethora of vacation time. Bush made himself look bad enoug, with his inability to justify his time off, making the added soundtrack addition a reason to laugh, where the topic is no laughing matter.
Laughs are abundant in this film and if you attend a screening like mine you will also be greeted with several rounds of applause and hissing. Fahrenheit 9/11 is an important study, and is certain to cause controversy, and while I am right there with Moore on everything he presents in the film the way he offers up his evidence seems like a direct attack on our current President and will really hurt the overall impact the film may have on those on the fence.
To check out some other reviews check below, as I feel this may be the one movie it is necessary to get a broad spectrum of viewpoints on considering the subject matter. Also, be sure to give us your opinion by clicking here.
JoBlo.com
LatinoReview.com
MSN Slate Article
New York Times Fahrenheit 9/11 Special Section
