Fahrenheit
9/11
(2004)
Rated: R
Runtime: 1 Hour and 52 Minutes
Reviewer: Dale
Grade: A+No, I am not a raving liberal. At least, I don’t fancy myself as such. There are some things on which I have a liberal slant and some topics on which I do not. But there is one thing I must say and that is that Michael Moore’s most recent documentary, “Fahrenheit 9/11” demands to be seen. Moore’s film is the reason that our soldiers are allegedly fighting, my friends, and anyone who deems this film “un-American” or “unpatriotic” is a complete and utter moron. Moore supports the troops, as we all do. The people currently serving in Iraq are our brothers, our sisters, our friends and neighbors. But they are also people. We can’t forget that. Moore takes the time to interview the actual soldiers serving over there, and he presents a surprisingly fair portrayal of them. Some of them come off as jarhead meatheads, true. But many of them also come off as simple people stuck in a terrible situation, in a war that has no foreseeable end, as people who just want to come home and don’t really know why we are over there in the first place. Sure, he includes some footage of American soldiers teasing and taunting Iraqi war criminals. But he includes a lot more footage of American soldiers that have been killed in the war and the American veterans with lost appendages that lay forgotten in hospital wards.
“Fahrenheit 9/11” is a great movie and I don’t care if you are Democrat, Republican or none of the above, this is a movie that will move you, that will force you to take a side, that will open your eyes and make you think. If you don’t believe the points that Moore is making in this film, then that’s fine. Moore wants to challenge you to investigate them. Moore wants to present the findings he has come to and he wants you to make up your own damn mind. Michael Moore may be a bit rabid for my taste (personally I thought his Oscar acceptance speech in 2003 made him come off as a bit of a buffoon) but I still admire him for one simple reason: HE CARES. He cares so deeply that it hurts him not to do something about the issues he sees. He cares so much that he has to make a movie that will shake you up and leave you feeling uneasy. He uses humor and sarcasm and great wit to get you interested in the movie, to get you settled in, and then he hits you with some truly disturbing facts that he has found. Perhaps he does go a bit far sometimes. There are perhaps one or two too many shots of a mother crying over the loss of her son in Iraq. But, dammit, this is a true moment and it is truly heartbreaking. He wants to rub your nose in it and make you admit that it’s happening. Michael Moore has made a movie that demands you to leave your comfort zone and actually take a look at the world around you. He has made a movie to make you stop and think. And he has made the most riveting documentary I have ever seen. I didn’t much care for Bush before I saw this movie, I won’t lie about that. But now I really dislike the man. I can’t say if I was really going to vote before I saw this movie, but now I can’t in good conscience NOT vote. I don’t know if John Kerry is going to be a very good president, but I’m willing to take a chance on him after seeing the atrocities that Bush has committed and the strange bedfellows that the Bush family has apparently had for several decades.
Again, I don’t know if all the facts he points out in this movie are true, but he raises far too many doubts about far too many things for me to disregard this movie entirely. It may smack of propaganda on occasion, but it’s damn effective propaganda. It’s the sort of movie that makes you cry and laugh and, above all, makes you angry. And that’s a great thing. It’s a very admirable thing. And he doesn’t really manipulate things all that often. More often that not, Moore just allows the actual footage to speak for itself. He lets you see Bush’s speeches and decide for yourself. He takes footage that was already out there, from sources like the Fox News Network and CNN and a plethora of network broadcasts, and he compiles them into a handy little guide for your perusal. Let’s say that you disbelieve his claims about our government’s alliance with the Saudi Arabian oil businessmen, one of the more damning subjects in this documentary. Well, if the American government doesn’t have an alliance with them, why is it that Secret Service agents arrive to ask him questions when he is conducting an interview across the street from the Saudi consulate? I highly doubt that was staged. It certainly doesn’t seem that it was. If Moore HAS finessed the facts to make his case, at least the facts are so massive that you will feel the need to investigate them for yourself. If you don’t believe the things Moore has to say, then he challenges you to find out for yourself. (By the way, if these were complete fabrications, we would hear about the libel lawsuits leveled against Moore, wouldn’t we? If he did say something completely fictitious about our current president, wouldn’t there be a massive uproar from the president himself? Where are these things then? Eh? Just a thought.) Knowledge is power. And it’s high time the American people stop acting like mindless sheep, myself particularly included.
I’m sorry that I’ve mostly gone on in great detail about this film made me feel personally. But politics is, after all, one of those things that are intensely personal for most people. That’s the way I feel and I’m sure you feel that way too. I’m not trying to get you to conform to my beliefs. America is founded on the ability of every citizen to make up his or her own damn mind. Well, folks, use that power. Wield this executive authority that has been granted you by the founding fathers. See this movie and then think it over, decide for yourself what YOU believe, but see the movie. It will galvanize you one way or another. If it doesn’t, then you don’t have a soul. I sincerely believe that. There’s no way you can be human if you can see this movie and not feel one way or the other about the subjects it brings up. I can’t review the facts in the movie, because I have not done Moore’s research. But I can and am reviewing the effectiveness of the movie itself. And the movie is undeniably effective. There is imagery and detail or extraordinary, haunting power here. You owe it to yourself to see this movie.
Most years don’t make even ONE mandatory movie. 2004 has, thus far, given us two of them: “The Passion of the Christ” and “Fahrenheit 9/11” and both movies are really propaganda trying to convince their audience to feel one way or another about a certain subject. In fact, these films seem to be covering the two most taboo subjects in modern society: politics and religion. It’s a very exciting time to be a filmgoer. And I am so thrilled to see that people are not shying away from these movies. “The Passion” was a massive hit, grossing hundreds of millions in very quick time. The theater I initially tried to see “Fahrenheit” in was sold out for two days in advance, so I drove across town to a theater where it soon sold out…in the middle of the day on a gorgeous Saturday. Thank God that people are actually attending these important films. Thank God people like Michael Moore and Mel Gibson had the gall to make them. And of the two, I believe Michael Moore’s is the more powerful of the two. If you have to choose only one, make it “Fahrenheit 9/11”. Sure, religion is fairly important. But I think that maybe making sure your country is heading down the right path is a little more important. It’s just my opinion, though. You find your own.
Incidentally, if you are blown away by this movie, I’d like to recommend a fake documentary on the American political process that is also immensely powerful: “Bob Roberts” made by Tim Robbins with a firm grasp of Orwellian social satire. It’s a satire so pitch black that it’s actually disturbing. And, like this one, it will definitely make you reconsider a few things.