Fahrenheit 9/11
Posted: Tue Jun 29, 2004 5:20 am
This is a tough review to start. I can't find the words that cover the movie without bringing my own feelings about Moore and the Bush administration into the review. Love them or hate them (them being Moore himself and the Bush administration), it's a movie to see despite it's shortcomings.
F911 serves more as a reminder of Bush's track record leading up to and following that fateful day in September of 2001. It shows ties from the Bush family to the Saudi Royal family, the Taliban to Unocal, Cheney to Halliburton and so on. The film paints a picture of quiet money making happening among the capitol hill elite and how it all came to light when Osama Bin Laden threw a monkey wrench into the machine.
But is it any good?
The movie is an encapsulated adaptation of Moore's book Dude, Where's My Country. It's quite apparent that the movie was made very quickly in order to hit theaters during the election phase, but most of Moore's work was already done before a single frame of film was shot. The Dude, Where's My Country portion of the movie is easily the most enlightening part of the movie and takes up most of the first half. The second half falls into the typical Michael Moore tear jerking and hooplah as he tries to show the effects of the Iraq war on the troops and families of the troops. Yet at the same time he tries to show compassion for the families of the dead, the footage of the American soldiers paints them up to be moronic, and worse yet, inhuman bullies. It's these cheap shots and a complete lack of direction and voice in the second half that brought the movie down a couple of notches for me.
F911 makes a lot of good points, but lacks any trace of the Michael Moore personality. The smart ass, man on the street antics of previous Moore documentaries are nearly missing save for a weak segment at the end wherein he harasses congressmen about having their children enlist in the military (of over 500 members congress, one has an enlisted child). In the end, the second half of the movie seems haphazardly thrown together while the first half offers some genuine insight.
F911 serves more as a reminder of Bush's track record leading up to and following that fateful day in September of 2001. It shows ties from the Bush family to the Saudi Royal family, the Taliban to Unocal, Cheney to Halliburton and so on. The film paints a picture of quiet money making happening among the capitol hill elite and how it all came to light when Osama Bin Laden threw a monkey wrench into the machine.
But is it any good?
The movie is an encapsulated adaptation of Moore's book Dude, Where's My Country. It's quite apparent that the movie was made very quickly in order to hit theaters during the election phase, but most of Moore's work was already done before a single frame of film was shot. The Dude, Where's My Country portion of the movie is easily the most enlightening part of the movie and takes up most of the first half. The second half falls into the typical Michael Moore tear jerking and hooplah as he tries to show the effects of the Iraq war on the troops and families of the troops. Yet at the same time he tries to show compassion for the families of the dead, the footage of the American soldiers paints them up to be moronic, and worse yet, inhuman bullies. It's these cheap shots and a complete lack of direction and voice in the second half that brought the movie down a couple of notches for me.
F911 makes a lot of good points, but lacks any trace of the Michael Moore personality. The smart ass, man on the street antics of previous Moore documentaries are nearly missing save for a weak segment at the end wherein he harasses congressmen about having their children enlist in the military (of over 500 members congress, one has an enlisted child). In the end, the second half of the movie seems haphazardly thrown together while the first half offers some genuine insight.