Review
So I saw Fahrenheit 9/11 yesterday and I have quite a bit to say about it
It ended with a quote from 1984, that I was very proud to recognise and which seemed to fit absolutely perfectly, it talked about the war and how the only need for it was to make sure that the people listen to whatever you say etc. I obviously don't precisely remember it, but I recomend it to anyone who hasn't read 1984, it will make you think and it is very interesting. Now going back to the documentary, I don't want to write up a huge review here, I'll list a few points that made a big impression on me and for something more eleuently written, the review on the imdb is suprisingly close to my opinion. Here are some things I remember:
It began with the Florida votes and showed an astounding amount of people connected to it and in tern their connections to Bush, it didn't directly accuse of course, but it did insinuate a great deal.
There was footage of US soldiers saying how they listen to music ad it really gets them all fired up, one was singing: burn motherfucker burn... while they showed this bombed and burning building. It was one of the most awful scenes for me personally.
There was a lengthy story of a family losing their son in Iraq, which ended in the mother crying in front of the White House, but it was her reading the last letter from her dead son that made me cry.
It was interesting to learn of the Bushes’ connections to senior members of Saudi families and how many billions these have invested in their companies, there was a lot more here, so much footage and documents and names and money and oil that I can not believe it is all real. And yet it is for if it wasn't this film wouldn't have seen the light of day. It is worth seeing just for these facts.
Michael Moore was heavily involved in the film, he asked members of the Senate why they don't send their children to war and the response resembled closely disgruntled celebs on the run from paparazzi, and the secret services coming to question Michael Moore when he was standing across the street from The Saudi Arabian embassy was absolutely priceless. He did go over the top for example:(direct quote) Moore: So do the Saudis give ypu a lot of trouble?
Secret services guy: No comment
Moore: I'll take that as a yes.
They showed grossly mutilated bodies of Iraqi civilians and injured US soldiers to an extend that I hadn't seen before, and I doubt most news networks would broadcast, and yet 9/11 was very tastefully shown (no images of falling buildings or jumping people, just the shocked faces of the people around it) and with enough respect. There was a lot of footage of how Bush was standing reading a children’s book for minutes after being told of it. There was evidence of him having received a report warning of a very probable terrorist attack in August and choosing to ignore that, instead cutting down anti terrorist funding prior the attack.
There was a bit on cutting soldiers’ pay and veteran money and about how this soldier died and his family received his last pay check but without the money for the last three days of the months he wasn't working, due to his death.
There was footage of Bush saying Iraq poses no treat and then saying that they most definitely have wmd. In fact there was a person who had to investigate 9/11 confessing that the president had told him to find evidence and blame the whole thing on Iraq.
But one major turn off was the fact that it tried to ridicule Bush in every possible way and yet at the same time showed us all these really sad tings that play with your emotions and make you cry, the fact is that there is almost no transition between funny 'point and laugh' at Bush moments and 'oh my god cry' moments, it is a bit too mixed, and at times you feel as if he isn’t taking this seriously and it should be taken more seriously.
My final verdict is that it is most definitely a must see film, just for the things you learn, it could have been better, it could have been less obviously biased and a bit more objective, that way it might have served to persuade people who don’t already dislike the current president. It is completely over the top a moments which could serve as a reason for it to be dismissed as useless propaganda by Bush’s supporters, despite a lot of the facts being serious enough.
It ended with a quote from 1984, that I was very proud to recognise and which seemed to fit absolutely perfectly, it talked about the war and how the only need for it was to make sure that the people listen to whatever you say etc. I obviously don't precisely remember it, but I recomend it to anyone who hasn't read 1984, it will make you think and it is very interesting. Now going back to the documentary, I don't want to write up a huge review here, I'll list a few points that made a big impression on me and for something more eleuently written, the review on the imdb is suprisingly close to my opinion. Here are some things I remember:
It began with the Florida votes and showed an astounding amount of people connected to it and in tern their connections to Bush, it didn't directly accuse of course, but it did insinuate a great deal.
There was footage of US soldiers saying how they listen to music ad it really gets them all fired up, one was singing: burn motherfucker burn... while they showed this bombed and burning building. It was one of the most awful scenes for me personally.
There was a lengthy story of a family losing their son in Iraq, which ended in the mother crying in front of the White House, but it was her reading the last letter from her dead son that made me cry.
It was interesting to learn of the Bushes’ connections to senior members of Saudi families and how many billions these have invested in their companies, there was a lot more here, so much footage and documents and names and money and oil that I can not believe it is all real. And yet it is for if it wasn't this film wouldn't have seen the light of day. It is worth seeing just for these facts.
Michael Moore was heavily involved in the film, he asked members of the Senate why they don't send their children to war and the response resembled closely disgruntled celebs on the run from paparazzi, and the secret services coming to question Michael Moore when he was standing across the street from The Saudi Arabian embassy was absolutely priceless. He did go over the top for example:(direct quote) Moore: So do the Saudis give ypu a lot of trouble?
Secret services guy: No comment
Moore: I'll take that as a yes.
They showed grossly mutilated bodies of Iraqi civilians and injured US soldiers to an extend that I hadn't seen before, and I doubt most news networks would broadcast, and yet 9/11 was very tastefully shown (no images of falling buildings or jumping people, just the shocked faces of the people around it) and with enough respect. There was a lot of footage of how Bush was standing reading a children’s book for minutes after being told of it. There was evidence of him having received a report warning of a very probable terrorist attack in August and choosing to ignore that, instead cutting down anti terrorist funding prior the attack.
There was a bit on cutting soldiers’ pay and veteran money and about how this soldier died and his family received his last pay check but without the money for the last three days of the months he wasn't working, due to his death.
There was footage of Bush saying Iraq poses no treat and then saying that they most definitely have wmd. In fact there was a person who had to investigate 9/11 confessing that the president had told him to find evidence and blame the whole thing on Iraq.
But one major turn off was the fact that it tried to ridicule Bush in every possible way and yet at the same time showed us all these really sad tings that play with your emotions and make you cry, the fact is that there is almost no transition between funny 'point and laugh' at Bush moments and 'oh my god cry' moments, it is a bit too mixed, and at times you feel as if he isn’t taking this seriously and it should be taken more seriously.
My final verdict is that it is most definitely a must see film, just for the things you learn, it could have been better, it could have been less obviously biased and a bit more objective, that way it might have served to persuade people who don’t already dislike the current president. It is completely over the top a moments which could serve as a reason for it to be dismissed as useless propaganda by Bush’s supporters, despite a lot of the facts being serious enough.