Fahrenheit 451
**1/2
DVD
Directed by
Michael Moore
Written by
Michael Moore
Cast
George W. Bush
John Ashcroft
Michael Moore
Colin Powell
Dick Cheney
and a cast of thousands of Saudis, Bush cronies, assorted community groups, and other people.
I
was asked to write a Reel Advice column on Michael Moore's Fahrenheit
9/11, and thus, here I am. Moore's work has been widely acclaimed more
for its sheer brazenness and storytelling capacity than its
presentation of useful, factual data, and it shows.
Fahrenheit
9/11 may as well have been stamped 'Sponsored By The People Who Really
Want Bush Out of the White House.' It is a propaganda piece in its
purest form, and yet at the same time, it raises too much truth, and
far too many telling blows against its obvious target to be dismissed
out of hand.
So what we have here is the story of a whole
patookusload of events that happened, possibly happened, or happened in
a totally different way from the way described by Michael Moore on or
around September 11, 2001.
If you don't know what happened on
September 11, 2001, I recommend that you go find out RIGHT NOW, because
that is the day on which, for better or for worse (most generally for
worse) America changed.
To call Michael Moore's Fahrenheit 9/11
a documentary is like calling The Texas Chainsaw Massacre a
documentary. It's akin to calling Tanner '88 a biography. Of course
there are true parts to it. Of course there are accuracies and many
cogent points.
For instance, there are the cogent questions of
why the Bin Ladens were allowed to leave on the only plane allowed to
fly across the whole of the United States on September 11th itself. Not
to mention issues like the vanishing weapons of mass destruction flap,
the numerous Bin Laden / Bush family business connections and scores of
others.
But there is significant difference.
Remember,
even Michael Moore himself admits that some of his information was
dodgy. Some of his shots were chosen to make biases appear. Information
exists, public record, that Moore's films are not a hundred percent
accurate. That difference separates the wheat from the chaff in
documentary work.
Lila Lipscomb, prominently featured throughout
the last half hour or so of Fahrenheit 9/11, takes issue with more than
a little of her presentation.
Not to mention the segment at the
fifty two minute mark, with the low-altitude parachutes...I live a mere
fifteen miles from where that shot took place. That was indeed a fix.
It's plain to see that he picked his shots to make a couple solid
business people from Three Rivers, Michigan, look like idiots. That
girl putting on the chute, Jaime, was a secretary called to put that
chute on for the first time ever. Of COURSE she doesn't know how to put
it on! She's never SEEN one of these things before! There isn't a
building high enough to actually use one of those things within fifty
miles of the Three Rivers office. I know--I LIVE fifteen miles away!
Bias
and content aside, Moore is a gifted showman. His talent for selecting
background music, for using camera work and shooting techniques (the
thirteen minute mark's all-black shot with the voiceovers from
September 11th footage is eerie and awe-inspiring), and his particular
talent for finding just the right sound bite to slip into the right
shot make Moore a formidable writer, director, and cinematographer. He
knows just how to string together a series of shots--stills of Bush
officials shaking hands with various Saudis to the tune of Shiny Happy
People is an excellent example.
He also knows just how to pick
his shots, using text crawls and crying relatives to maximum emotional
effectiveness. His finishing stunt, petitioning US Congresspersons to
enlist their children in the war in Iraq and being very plainly shot
down is a stunt selected for maximum effect.
And yet, at the
same time, we can tell that Moore hates Bush like Godzilla hates the
Tokyo military. The commentary is acerbic at best, and downright
venomous at worst. Moore's bias is plain as day, and anyone claiming
that Moore subscribes to any form of "fair and balanced" dogma deserves
to be laughed at.
It's good that someone, in this age of the
Patriot Act and "enemy combatants," can actually show the Bush
Administration for the group of monstrous opportunists and cronyists
it's shown itself to be over the last several years. The missteps and
unethical behavior, along with the purely questionable material, of the
last four years are presented right here. Check out the incredible
footage around the one hour thirteen minute mark.
The ending is standard Michael Moore, designed to spark emotion above all.
The
special features include, set up in a menu designed to look like a
color-coded Homeland Security terror alert system, extra footage,
deleted scenes, and trailers for Fahrenheit 9/11, Super Size Me, The
Fog of War, Dr. Strangelove, Spellbound, Silver City, and Soundtrack to
War.
All in all, Fahrenheit 9/11 is a telling piece that raises
more questions than answers, and the answers it does provide are more
than occasionally suspect. Stiil, Moore's overwhelming sense of humor
helps to soften the many blows he launches.
Oh, and by the way--dislike the intelligence that went into the Iraqi war?
Try
this number: 202-225-2536. This is the private office line of
Republican Congressman Porter Goss, chairman of the House Intelligence
Committee.
Courtesy of Michael Moore.
--
**1/2
DVD
Directed by
Michael Moore
Written by
Michael Moore
Cast
George W. Bush
John Ashcroft
Michael Moore
Colin Powell
Dick Cheney
and a cast of thousands of Saudis, Bush cronies, assorted community groups, and other people.
I
was asked to write a Reel Advice column on Michael Moore's Fahrenheit
9/11, and thus, here I am. Moore's work has been widely acclaimed more
for its sheer brazenness and storytelling capacity than its
presentation of useful, factual data, and it shows.
Fahrenheit
9/11 may as well have been stamped 'Sponsored By The People Who Really
Want Bush Out of the White House.' It is a propaganda piece in its
purest form, and yet at the same time, it raises too much truth, and
far too many telling blows against its obvious target to be dismissed
out of hand.
So what we have here is the story of a whole
patookusload of events that happened, possibly happened, or happened in
a totally different way from the way described by Michael Moore on or
around September 11, 2001.
If you don't know what happened on
September 11, 2001, I recommend that you go find out RIGHT NOW, because
that is the day on which, for better or for worse (most generally for
worse) America changed.
To call Michael Moore's Fahrenheit 9/11
a documentary is like calling The Texas Chainsaw Massacre a
documentary. It's akin to calling Tanner '88 a biography. Of course
there are true parts to it. Of course there are accuracies and many
cogent points.
For instance, there are the cogent questions of
why the Bin Ladens were allowed to leave on the only plane allowed to
fly across the whole of the United States on September 11th itself. Not
to mention issues like the vanishing weapons of mass destruction flap,
the numerous Bin Laden / Bush family business connections and scores of
others.
But there is significant difference.
Remember,
even Michael Moore himself admits that some of his information was
dodgy. Some of his shots were chosen to make biases appear. Information
exists, public record, that Moore's films are not a hundred percent
accurate. That difference separates the wheat from the chaff in
documentary work.
Lila Lipscomb, prominently featured throughout
the last half hour or so of Fahrenheit 9/11, takes issue with more than
a little of her presentation.
Not to mention the segment at the
fifty two minute mark, with the low-altitude parachutes...I live a mere
fifteen miles from where that shot took place. That was indeed a fix.
It's plain to see that he picked his shots to make a couple solid
business people from Three Rivers, Michigan, look like idiots. That
girl putting on the chute, Jaime, was a secretary called to put that
chute on for the first time ever. Of COURSE she doesn't know how to put
it on! She's never SEEN one of these things before! There isn't a
building high enough to actually use one of those things within fifty
miles of the Three Rivers office. I know--I LIVE fifteen miles away!
Bias
and content aside, Moore is a gifted showman. His talent for selecting
background music, for using camera work and shooting techniques (the
thirteen minute mark's all-black shot with the voiceovers from
September 11th footage is eerie and awe-inspiring), and his particular
talent for finding just the right sound bite to slip into the right
shot make Moore a formidable writer, director, and cinematographer. He
knows just how to string together a series of shots--stills of Bush
officials shaking hands with various Saudis to the tune of Shiny Happy
People is an excellent example.
He also knows just how to pick
his shots, using text crawls and crying relatives to maximum emotional
effectiveness. His finishing stunt, petitioning US Congresspersons to
enlist their children in the war in Iraq and being very plainly shot
down is a stunt selected for maximum effect.
And yet, at the
same time, we can tell that Moore hates Bush like Godzilla hates the
Tokyo military. The commentary is acerbic at best, and downright
venomous at worst. Moore's bias is plain as day, and anyone claiming
that Moore subscribes to any form of "fair and balanced" dogma deserves
to be laughed at.
It's good that someone, in this age of the
Patriot Act and "enemy combatants," can actually show the Bush
Administration for the group of monstrous opportunists and cronyists
it's shown itself to be over the last several years. The missteps and
unethical behavior, along with the purely questionable material, of the
last four years are presented right here. Check out the incredible
footage around the one hour thirteen minute mark.
The ending is standard Michael Moore, designed to spark emotion above all.
The
special features include, set up in a menu designed to look like a
color-coded Homeland Security terror alert system, extra footage,
deleted scenes, and trailers for Fahrenheit 9/11, Super Size Me, The
Fog of War, Dr. Strangelove, Spellbound, Silver City, and Soundtrack to
War.
All in all, Fahrenheit 9/11 is a telling piece that raises
more questions than answers, and the answers it does provide are more
than occasionally suspect. Stiil, Moore's overwhelming sense of humor
helps to soften the many blows he launches.
Oh, and by the way--dislike the intelligence that went into the Iraqi war?
Try
this number: 202-225-2536. This is the private office line of
Republican Congressman Porter Goss, chairman of the House Intelligence
Committee.
Courtesy of Michael Moore.
--
|
Some of our content may be related to gambling.    |