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Fahrenheit 911

After all the hype and hysteria about this film, the reality of it is a bit different. While not the greatest movie since "To Kill A Mockingbird," Michael Moore’s latest offering is all of the things that you’ve come to expect from this irrelevant prankster with a political agenda. That’s not to say that I didn’t like this movie. I found it funny, heartrending, rambling, one-sided and profound. It’s not nearly as bad as panicky politicos are making out. After all, Moore relies on well-known and pretty much accepted as true information, but it’s not nearly as good as the standing ovations at Cannes, Hollywood and NYC screenings would imply. Come on folks! It’s a Michael Moore documentary.

Having said that, if you don’t read the papers or watch TV, or if you don’t keep up with history, this is a good way to connect the dots between the horrible events of the last few years. There is a long relationship between the Bush family and the house of Saud. This friendship is enough to make the current administrations post 9-11 decisions improper, if not suspicious. To point -- when 15 of the 19 hijackers are Saudis, why would one conclude that Iraq was behind that particular tragedy? If anything, Moore skimmed these issues, but at least he did cover them and, perhaps for educational purposes, that’s enough.

However, the core of the movie is about the War in Iraq. Moore shows the things that American news media avoids -- the dead bodies of children, grieving women, angry men -- the fury of the Iraqi people who don’t understand why THEY are being bombed, frisked, humiliated and invaded. George Bush’s refrain of WMDs, connections between Bin Laden and Saddam Hussein (who are actually mortal enemies) and Saddam Hussein’s cruelty as a dictator do not resonate with these people. Frankly, as an American, those scenes are very hard to watch. It is reminiscent of the Vietnam era statement, "We had to destroy them to save them." Whether you agree with the war or not, it’s hard to see that the best efforts of our country have brought about only more sorrow, despair and hatred.

Then, there is the cost of the war, in American terms. There’s the money spent on this project when there are poor people here who could benefit. There’s the grotesque physical wounds incurred by our men and women. There’s the horrifying moral wounds inflicted on our children as evidenced by scenes showing them abusing prisoners and laughing over dead bodies. There’s the tremendous burden on military families who are often drawn from those communities with high unemployment and few possibilities. However, the most profound moment in this film, to me, was the interview with a heartbreakingly young soldier who says that killing another person kills a part of yourself.

I was part of a large mid-afternoon audience on opening day. Despite the R rating, there were many parents with young teenaged children and many senior citizens. We all laughed when Moore wanted us to laugh, we cried when he wanted us to cry. We were properly horrified to discover that "no one in congress ever reads" bills before they vote on them. The fact that only one member of Congress had a child serving as an enlisted person in Iraq came as no surprise to anyone. A heartbroken mother’s anger stirred us and the violence disgusted us, but isn't that what a movie’s supposed to do?

Fahrenheit 9/11 may not rise to the level of its hype, but it will do well. Even if you are a Bush backer, you’ll have to admit that some of Dubya’s out-takes are pretty funny. Cartoonists and comedians have been making fun of politicians for years. The only difference, here, is that there’s a little history thrown in too.

Written by: Joyce Faulkner

Reviewers Rating: 8
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