Yesterday afternoon G and I, and a whole lot of other folks - even here in this quiet backwater of the world, sneeringly called "Lower Slower Delaware" by those north of us - went to see Michael Moore's new opus Fahrenheit 9/11. All shows the first two days were sold out - we had to buy our tickets well in advance - the lines snaked through the lobby, out the door, down the mall. I suspect that many of you who read this journal have also seen it in the past couple of days, or will see it soon. I really didn't think it was possible to be any angrier than I have been for well over a year now. Well, hey, I was wrong. The movie really didn't contain any new information for me (anyone who reads Old Hickory's journal with any regularity, as well as all those other political blogs, and nonmainstream news sources listed in my links knows most of this stuff all too well), but seeing it all put together, right in my face, was unbelieveably powerful. And here I have to comment on the brilliant use of music in this film, it adds as much commentary as Moore's voiceover, or any of the spoken words. No wonder the Junta in Washington is scared of Michael Moore.
Here is a link to Joel Bleifuss' article "Framing Michael Moore," from In These Times, which speaks of Moore's movie, and refutes completely Michael Isikoff's (although he is, in the current issue of Newsweek) right to say ANYthing about much of anything, as far as I can see. If you don't have time to read the entire article, here is Bleifuss' conclusion, no way I could say it better:
Fahrenheit 9/11 is an amazingly powerful documentary. Moore collects skeins of archival footage—a young George W. driving across country, Paul Wolfowitz slicking his hair back with spit as he readies for the cameras, Bush addressing a fundraising dinner: "This is an impressive crowd, the haves and the have mores. Some people call you the elite. I call you my base."
Moore weaves historic documents together with his signature vignettes—two Air Force recruiters bamboozling youth into the military, the mourning mother whose soldier son was killed in Iraq, and members of Congress running away as he asks them tosign up and enlist their children in the war.
Through these, Moore constructs a penitential sackcloth for a president who has no clothes, and who, come November, will, electorate willing, be out of office. Thanks, significantly, to Michael Moore.
Yes, Fahrenheit 9/11 is propaganda, in the same way the nightly news is, or the front page of your daily paper. It’s just that Moore is more upfront with the point he is trying to make. Critics contend that Moore is framing the president. Not quite. He builds his case with the president’s own words, numerous damning facts and the testimony of those most affected by the war.
What the critics of the film are really outraged about is that Fahrenheit 9/11 could have an effect on the presidential election. After breaking records in New York, the movie opens Friday, June 25, and on Monday, June 28, MoveOn will host an evening of nationwide house parties. The parties, more than 1000 of them, will culminate in a national online town meeting with Moore.
To fight back, some unknown person or organization hired the PR firm Russo, Marsh & Rogers of Sacramento, California. The company, which has strong ties to the Republican Party set up a Web site, MoveAmericaForward.org, to attack Fahrenheit 9/11. The PR flacks who managed the site encouraged:
Americans who found in Moore’s movie Fahrenheit 9/11 an attempt to undermine the war on terror, to let movie theater operators know about their objections. Think about it… If you walked into a Wal-Mart store and saw they were selling merchandise that attacked the military, our troops and America’s battle against Islamic terrorism, wouldn’t you complain to the store manager or write a letter and ask that they not sell that product because it was undermining our national effort?
Others on the right aim to counter Moore with a movie of their own making, Michael Moore Hates America: A Documentary That Tells the Truth about a Great Nation.
That will be a hard sell to anyone who sees Fahrenheit 9/11, which makes clear that Michael Moore loves America. It’s the Bush administration he can’t stand.
10 comments:
I'm looking forward to seeing it this afternoon with a friend. I can hardly wait. Moore is a left wing apologist and propagandist. Those aren't bad things. It's when only one side of an issue is allowed to have its propaganda and apologists that we have real problems, or when the apologists pass themselves as neutral, unbiased sources. I don't see any of that with Michael Moore, and I'll take his style over that of Rush Limbaugh's or Anne Coulter's anyday.
Just got home a little while ago from seeing this! We were out of town Friday (visiting John's Bush loving sister...more about that later in my journal), so we tried to get tickets to a show last night when we got home. No go, it was sold out! So I got tickets for the 1 pm show today. We got there about 20 minites before, and got seats WAY down in the front of the theatre. Everyone seemed entralled, although I heard one person say (on the way out) "Of course, that's what you get when you only show one side of the story." When they make a documentary that can prove that the facts in this documentary are false, I'll watch it with an open mind. But from what I've seen, the only refutation that the bushies can give us is "Because we say so!" Somehow, I don't find that convincing!
I haven't seen the movie yet. I'm not sure if I will; I haven't been to the movies a lot lately.
The NY Times has a special section on F9/11 with about a dozen articles and the review...
http://www.nytimes.com/ref/movies/FAHRENHEIT-REF.html
One of the articles states that Moore is starting a website to counter right-wing criticism of the film, complete with his sources for his assertions and is considering "defamation suits against anyone who maligns the film or damages his reputation."
Cherie, we all have those relatives. alas. i'm a little worried about one of mine that i'll be visiting in San Antonio - my republican sister. maybe even she will have changed her mind by now. i can only hope, or else my style will be severely cramped. WHAT will we talk about? it's almost my only topic nowadays. maybe i need to get more of a life? really, defeating Bush IS my life right now.
You know what I find interesting about the "Right's" cries of foul play and lies is that if they were in fact lies, they could sue. Haven't heard of any lawsuits for Defammation of Character. Have you? :-) ---Robbie
Saw this last night and learned quite a bit more about the extent to which the Bush family and bin Ladens are so closely business-knit. I don't think anyone in the Bush administration can justly claim "defamation of character" ... the footage speaks for itself. Conservative relatives and friends can say they think the movie is propaganda and that they don't like it, but I'll bet these will all be "emotional" appeals without arguments against the substance of the film. I thought it was brilliant!
I felt the same way. ~Kennya
Yay Micheal Moore! Goodbye Bush!
Great film. No new information for the 'choir' but it was great to see some of that footage, like Bush sitting there like a rock for seven minutes, looking like he wished Jeb had gotten the job instead of him. LOL. It was fantastic. I laughed. I cried. And it felt great to see so many faces there. Come check out my journal entries on the film at http://edit.journals.aol.com/ibspiccoli/RandomThoughts
I'm ecstatic to see the huge turnout for the movie in its first week. It will only get bigger as the word spreads around, and more theaters will be showing it this weekend.
Interesting bit of info on Move America Forward: it's a front for the PR group Russo Marsh and Rogers, which has strong ties to the GOP. Its chairman is Howard Kaloogian, the same Howard Kaloogian who was the chairman of the Recall Gray Davis committee.
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