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We just saw Fahrenheit 911 at the Historic Normal Theater. It was literally "the line around the block" as the 7:00 showing was sold out by 6:25 and people waited in front of the theater to buy 9:00 tickets at 8:00. I was so glad to see this movie come to the Normal because it will be a financial shot in the arm for my favorite nonprofit theater - my favorite theater, period. After 911 the phrase "connect the dots" became very popular as millions of Americans realized that the clues had all been there for the attack, but no one was making sense out of them. Moore has done a very good job of connecting the dots between the Bush family, the Bin Laden family, Enron, the oil industry, Halliburten, the Taliban, and the Saudi Royal Family. Don't waste my time saying that F911 isn't objective documentary reportage - that definitely comes under the "Duh!" category. I've heard complaints that Moore only chooses footage of Bush looking stupid, which is sort of like complaining about only using footage of Richard Nixon looking evil. Nixon always looked evil and Bush seldom looks intelligent. Moore had a lot to work with. Despite NeoCon complaints to the contrary, Moore did very well with the facts. The only place in the movie where he veered off into obvious propaganda was in his footage of pre-war Iraq, which he portrayed as a happy, peaceful place full of smiling children and solid, loving families. Hell, I'd have smiled a lot too, in pre-war Iraq. It was the only false move made in the movie, and it's hard to imagine what Moore was thinking. Moore is totally correct that Iraq posed no threat to the US. Saddam was very well contained. It makes no difference that the dictator was a monster: if he really needed to be taken out, that is what the UN is for. Bush tried to bully the UN with a bunch of obvious lies and then huffed that they were irrelevant when they didn't line up behind him. Moore returns, as he always does, to Flint, Michigan to see how the poorest Americans tend to become soldiers. It is no accident that military recruiting is heaviest among poor areas. Why should the sons of the rich join the military? The sons of the poor often have no other choice. There's a lot of footage from Iraq, though I didn't see Moore go there. (I wouldn't go there, either.) We hear from Iraqi mothers who lost family members, and we raid an Iraqi home with some US soldiers. We see close-ups of horribly injured Iraqis and Americans. We learn what music American soldiers listen to in their tanks while invading a country. We see the coffins the Bush administration has placed off-limits from cameras. There are a few examples of how Homeland Security and the culture of fear (explored earlier in Bowling for Columbine) are important in getting the Patriot Act passed. It is plain that act was pretty much already written and waiting for the right opportunity that came in the attack of 911. The movie is funny in places, and some people cried in places, too. But I was strangely unmoved by it - perhaps because it pushes toward the place where I already am. I already believe the Iraq war was based on a lie. I already think it was a bad idea to hustle the Bin Laden family out of the country without at least interrogating them. I'm already appalled at the exploitation of 911 to push jingoistic patriotism as a way of silencing dissent. Michael Moore is a difficult man to like. He tries very hard to look like an ordinary guy as he travels around in a private jet wearing a t-shirt and ball cap, sporting two days growth and his trademark beer gut. But I can't blame him for not wanting to look like Ralph Nader. I wouldn't want to resemble Nader in any way. Some people criticize Moore for being disrespectful of the authorities. This is his strongest selling point, so far as I'm concerned. I could give you a hundred reasons for not trusting - or even respecting - the authorities, just off the top of my head. Say, the Gulf of Tonkin and the USDA food pyramid, just to name two. Need more? Got an hour? Two hours? Go see the movie. No matter what your opinion is, it won't change your mind. But it's an important part of the dialog, and it's worth it just to see a congressman look at Moore as if he's lost his mind when asked, "Would you like to sign your son up to join the Army and go to Iraq?" I'd kind of like to know the answer to that question from each member. By the way, many, many thanks to the Normal Theater and their hard-working volunteer staff for showing this film after GKC chickened out. Whatever your politics, it needs to be shown and seen. That's what a free society does - we don't hide from dissent. 07/01/04 |
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