Fahrenheit 9/11

[CHIMO]

The backlash to Michael Moore's thoroughly entertaining new film has had one of the longest and most elaborate gestation periods that I can remember. Ever since he became a big player with his anti-gun documentary Bowling for Columbine, and his bestsellers Stupid White Men and Dude, Where's My Country, there has been a strand of liberal opinion which holds that liking Michael Moore is uncool and infra dig, like squawking about the perfidy of Starbucks. Even before it hit the screens, his new polemic Fahrenheit 9/11 has had pundits queuing up to offer knowing and avuncular putdowns.

However, it is incendiary, excitable, often mawkishly emotional but simply gripping: a cheerfully partisan assault on the Bush administration. Moore argues that, embarrassed by its failure to bring Osama bin Laden to justice and at its own family links with the extremely wealthy Saudi Bin Ladens, the Bush administration launched a diversionary war on Saddam. This film astonished everyone, including me, by winning the Golden Palm at Cannes, and Michael Moore's dizzying, counter-jumping success has made populist dissent the stuff not merely of websites or print journalism but big Hollywood box office. It is an exhilarating and even refreshing spectacle at a time when our pro-war liberals are evidently too worldly or sophisticated or amnesiac to be angry about the grotesque falsehood of WMD.

http://film.guardian.co.uk/News_Story/Critic_Review/Guardian_Film_of_the_week/0,4267,1256808,00.html

[hrhdeb]

1. necessary propaganda

I saw Fahrenheit 9/11. There was not much in it that I hadn't already heard, and I felt like I was being completely manipulated. However, that being said, I am so glad that in this country (at least for now), Michael Moore has the right to make statements against the administration. I wish there were more film makers like him. Today, for just a moment, I was not embarrassed to be an American.

[wurzel]

2. This film was the result of a total news failure in the US.

Had the news media done half a job this film would not have been necessary. Our news media enjoy freedom and protection envied throughout the world. But it is also free not to do its job. Hopefully this film will be a warning. But I doubt it has enough pride to care.

[StClone]

3. You were manipulated!

Propaganda can be used for good!

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