Fahrenheit 9/11 (18)

This shouldn't be classified as documentary for it failed to do just that "DOCUMENT". The film is overly dramatic and in many occasion it was emotionally exaggerated. Schindler's List is the better documentary film that is added with drama without overdoing it.

Fahrenheit 9/11 - Michael Moore is a controversial figure, a political activist in the guise of a film-maker, a voice in the crowd in these days when the little people rarely get heard. I must admit that I loved Bowling For Columbine, a film that examines the American love affair with the gun, a straight forward attack on the laws and policy, as well as the attitudes in modern day America that make guns so prevalent. With 9/11 he is on more dangerous territory, they say don't discuss politics or religion, and this film is based heavily in one and touches on the other.

The problem with making a film based around ideas that have a fundamentaly political basis is that there are never any clear cut answers, politics is one of those tricky beasts that is as much about the big picture and moral opinion as anything else. Facts are easily put together to show any scenario from the angle that you wish to portray, so any film of this type is probably politicaly biased.

That said, I found the film to be presented well, the arguments and portrayal of ideas convincing and the information startling. Michael Moore does aim to shock. So what is the film about? Without giving away his conclusions, it's about the connections between certain members of the American government and the Saudi Arabian business world. This may seem harmless enough, but what is startling is the amount of Saudi investment there is in the American business world. The Bush family, for example, earn far more of their income from Saudi backers than they do from their American concerns. Who is George Bush`s real boss, asks Moore, not the American people. Again, not a major controversy until you find out that the biggest of those investors is the Saudi-Bin Laden Corporation.

Other areas examined are the level of freindships and co-operation between the two business communities, the strings pulled and blind eyes turned in the wake of 9/11 and the real reason that America went to war with Iraq, who incidentally, according to the C.I.A., have no connection with Bin Laden's terrorist organisation.

A lot of the Bush empire, like that of his close friends, is based on the sale of arms, legitimate arms, such as the Abrams Tank, the American Army`s weapon of choice. However, the best way to keep the money rolling in with such interests is to keep a demand for the product and in this case that means war. War against the Afgahnistan-based terrorist organisation of Bin Laden? No, Iraq will do nicely.

The information is presented in a style familiar to you who have seen him at work before. The facts are generally contained in interviews and newsreel, which are spliced together to great effect. Some may say the information is used out of context, but it is all relevant, and interesting when placed together in such a way. The use of soundtrack and film techniques pull this documentary, normally a dry medium to work in, into the realm of quality film making and award winning territory.

Whether you agree with his conclusions or not is not the point, but it is a case for a different opinion on some of the major decisions of our time to be brought into the spotlight. Some see him as an anarchist, some as un-American, but whatever your opinion of Moore, at least we live in a society where he is allowed to publicly air his concerns.

The film basically drives the point home that you can remain loyal to your country and its armed forces, but can still criticise the men in suits who make the policies.

Fahrenheit 9/11 - I have a lot of time and respect for Michael Moore, not only for his willingness to stand up and express things that need to be said about society but also for the quality of his work. He's very very good about saying very controvertial things and backing them up with good, solid facts. Most of Fahrenheit 9/11 lives up to his previous standards.

Although the film itself is very different from previous offerings both on TV and film in that Moore barely makes an appearance, preferring to let his footage and interviewees speak for themselves and in that it lacks his usually comic approach, it is entirely watchable. In an election year, and as propaganda for what is probably the most important American Presidential Election since Lincoln's election led to the secession of the Southern states, Moore does his job. He paints a very unflattering, yet accurate picture of Bush, his abilities (or lack thereof) and his cronies and their allegiance to big business, oil, money and greed. He lays out, through TV footage and interviews with Bush insiders, a very frightening portrait of the attempt by a group of very wealthy businessmen to save their own investments by pointing the finger for terrorism at the wrong people and refusing to pursue some of the main culprits with any gusto. He also follows on the theme from Bowling For Columbine by showing how the conservative media in the U.S. created, and continues to create, a climate of fear in which Bush's government is able to pass legislation and engage in foreign wars because it has the backing of a frightened populace.

Where Moore lets himself down, however, is in his obvious need to establish his own pro-Americanism and to desperately show that he's not against the troops, just against the war. It shows how much he is worried by what his detractors have said, neglecting to realise that anybody who will be moved by his film will probably understand this fact without needing to beaten over the head with it. He makes a very valid point in saying that it's the poorer classes of society who end up having to give their lives in a war, but he almost obscures his point by the fact that in making it, he's so desperate to show he's the friend of the soldier and that they agree with him about the war, that he ends up coming across just as subjective as the media against which he rails.

It was disheartening to see that Moore used his interviews with members of the armed forces to mock those soldiers who felt they were in Iraq for valid reasons by clever editing, and as such he denied them their voice, only showing intelligent commentary and dialogue from those servicemen who agreed with his politics and helped make his point. This means that the film attempts to show that American soldiers are either 1) idiots or 2) in full agreement with Moore; something I think most people would probably doubt. He'd have been better served to allow servicemen taking positions on both sides of the debate to explain that while many servicemen still feel they are fighting a valid war, because of whatever reasons in regards to what they feel their mission should be as soldiers, many are starting to question it. It would still be powerful, and it would still lend weight and credibility to his argument about Bush's motives.

On the whole, speaking as someone with relatives voting Democrat in Florida and who is worrying about potentially not having her absentee ballot counted because it won't be for Bush, this is a film that needed to be made and one that is still worth seeing, despite its flaws.

Fahrenheit 9/11 - This is Michael Moore's 3rd (as far as I know of) documentary. It is also his best yet. Michael Moore has the ability to make a documentary enjoyable as well as factual. I would recommend this to anyone.

Fahrenheit 9/11 (18) - I expected to be alone in the cinema with a handful of anoraks at one of the first screenings in the UK of this film. In fact, there was a queue to get in and the theatre was full, with lots of 18-30 year olds who sat in wrapt silence throughout.

This film is one of the first plausible, if questionable, explanations, of the Bush election and presidency that I have seen. It was brilliantly put together and had some very funny parts. I particularly liked the old style Moore skits - hiring an ice cream van to read the Patriot Act through its loud hailers while going round and round a roundabout outside Congress in Washington; asking Congressmen outside Congress if they would sign up their children to fight in Iraq ("No"). And there were some very funny clips presented without commentary - Bush asking all nations to help the war against terrorism before resuming his golf; an advert for a strong room which allows you to be protected from terrorist attack while "drinking fine bordeaux" in the claustrophobic comfort of a glorified lavatory, for example. There was a very funny skit on the opening of "Bonanza". And I enjoyed clips of Bush saying about Bin Laden that he would "smoke him out" juxtaposed against a black and white 1950s cowboy film with a cowboy standing outside a locked barn saying he would "smoke him out".

A "must see".