FAHRENHEIT 911
Michael Moore is an idiot, and a traitor.
Just kidding.
You know what surprised me the most about this movie? His level of restraint. In Bowling for Columbine, and any of his other documentaries, he narrates them wall to wall. In this two hour examination of how America got to Iraq he narrates MAYBE a third of the film, probably more like one-fifth. So these arguments that he's manufacturing facts are ridiculous because he barely even poses any questions. He lets the players speak for -- and thus incriminate -- themselves. There is nothing here for the Right Wing to be all bent out of shape about ... with the obvious exception of the exploitation of their own corruption, but, folks, we already know this. That simple point is like an elephant trying to hide under a cardboard box.
Another point that the Right(eous) seem to like to argue is the chronology, that some of Bush or whoever's statements are taken out of context from where or when they happened. This was a sticking point for me before I walked into the theater. Upon walking out, however, what I realized is that it's not the place or time that any one or another of these things were said, it's the arrogance that such phrases could be uttered at all. There is a real lack of humility with this administration, and that is a criminal shame.
I will say that Lila Luddick's (sp?) [ed. whoops, her name's Lila Lipscomb -- I'm becoming senile] reading of her son's letter did not move me at all. What did move me, however, was when she was before the wall of Vietnam casualty names in D.C. speaking to what I gather was a Middle Eastern woman there to protest in a little tent. Lila's telling her that she lost her son, and this third woman comes up out of nowhere to yell at the protester, telling her that she's fabricating her claims of the deaths in Iraq. Lila turns to this woman and just tells her off. The woman backed up because she obviously had no retort for an American woman who was willing to get in her face. As Lila was walking off, this arrogant bitch yells after her, "You're not the only one to lose someone," or something to that effect.
So, although I didn't so much learn anything new from this film, Michael Moore does something very important here: he shows us the other side of the war ... the part that the broadcast networks were not willing to show: the horror, and the fabrications. This film asks our fearless leaders to take responsibility for their connection -- just like the Right Wing so vehemently did during Clinton's years. How come the Clintons had to answer for a marital problem and a couple of shady land deals, but the Bush Dynasty doesn't have to answer at all for what we already know to be a global conspiracy that leads from Texas to the oil fields of Iraq? That's the media's fault because they have been put into place and told to lob softballs right from the very moment that Florida came into question during the 2000 election -- but, again, we already know this. All we ever see on American television is the "heroism," and the bravado, and the arrogance parading as confidence that this is a moral cause we have been led into by business men who have only their best interests at stake, and could honestly give a fucking shit about the country they claim to represent. What Michael Moore has done, so wisely, with this film is to keep his mouth shut, and let certain facts speak for themselves.
To argue against this movie is so ridiculous.
It is far less an attack on the powers that be than it is an attack on a population that rolled over for dubious election results and flag-waving nationalism.
But, like I said, we knew this already.
--
And, to be fair, here is a point-to-point criticism of the "innacuracies" in Fahrenheit 911:
http://www.davekopel.com/Terror/Fiftysix-Deceits-in-Fahrenheit-911.htm
Nit-picking at best, if you ask me, and this fellow derails himself when he gets to #58.
Just kidding.
You know what surprised me the most about this movie? His level of restraint. In Bowling for Columbine, and any of his other documentaries, he narrates them wall to wall. In this two hour examination of how America got to Iraq he narrates MAYBE a third of the film, probably more like one-fifth. So these arguments that he's manufacturing facts are ridiculous because he barely even poses any questions. He lets the players speak for -- and thus incriminate -- themselves. There is nothing here for the Right Wing to be all bent out of shape about ... with the obvious exception of the exploitation of their own corruption, but, folks, we already know this. That simple point is like an elephant trying to hide under a cardboard box.
Another point that the Right(eous) seem to like to argue is the chronology, that some of Bush or whoever's statements are taken out of context from where or when they happened. This was a sticking point for me before I walked into the theater. Upon walking out, however, what I realized is that it's not the place or time that any one or another of these things were said, it's the arrogance that such phrases could be uttered at all. There is a real lack of humility with this administration, and that is a criminal shame.
I will say that Lila Luddick's (sp?) [ed. whoops, her name's Lila Lipscomb -- I'm becoming senile] reading of her son's letter did not move me at all. What did move me, however, was when she was before the wall of Vietnam casualty names in D.C. speaking to what I gather was a Middle Eastern woman there to protest in a little tent. Lila's telling her that she lost her son, and this third woman comes up out of nowhere to yell at the protester, telling her that she's fabricating her claims of the deaths in Iraq. Lila turns to this woman and just tells her off. The woman backed up because she obviously had no retort for an American woman who was willing to get in her face. As Lila was walking off, this arrogant bitch yells after her, "You're not the only one to lose someone," or something to that effect.
So, although I didn't so much learn anything new from this film, Michael Moore does something very important here: he shows us the other side of the war ... the part that the broadcast networks were not willing to show: the horror, and the fabrications. This film asks our fearless leaders to take responsibility for their connection -- just like the Right Wing so vehemently did during Clinton's years. How come the Clintons had to answer for a marital problem and a couple of shady land deals, but the Bush Dynasty doesn't have to answer at all for what we already know to be a global conspiracy that leads from Texas to the oil fields of Iraq? That's the media's fault because they have been put into place and told to lob softballs right from the very moment that Florida came into question during the 2000 election -- but, again, we already know this. All we ever see on American television is the "heroism," and the bravado, and the arrogance parading as confidence that this is a moral cause we have been led into by business men who have only their best interests at stake, and could honestly give a fucking shit about the country they claim to represent. What Michael Moore has done, so wisely, with this film is to keep his mouth shut, and let certain facts speak for themselves.
To argue against this movie is so ridiculous.
It is far less an attack on the powers that be than it is an attack on a population that rolled over for dubious election results and flag-waving nationalism.
But, like I said, we knew this already.
--
And, to be fair, here is a point-to-point criticism of the "innacuracies" in Fahrenheit 911:
http://www.davekopel.com/Terror/Fiftysix-Deceits-in-Fahrenheit-911.htm
Nit-picking at best, if you ask me, and this fellow derails himself when he gets to #58.
