Fahrenheit 9/11 (2004)
After watching Fahrenheit 9/11, there are almost no forseeable outcomes in which George W. Bush will be re-elected President of the United States of America. Now, is that because the documentary is so persuasive & powerful, or is that because as far as character assasinations go, nothing can top it? Or, is the point of a documentary to inform/enlighten, or to tell you that if you don't think the way the director thinks, you're damning a country to hell?
There are definitely some eye-opening moments highlighted in this new Michael Moore film, that if you haven't heard about, you must be under a rock, dead, crushed by all the money the Bush government is making for themselves off the "Iraq War." Whoa, whoa, there, almost slipped into the ol' propaganda there. My bad.
Really, in hindsight (which is always 20/20 dontcha know), everything shown in the movie makes Bush look like an idiot, a simpleton. Although some of the facts the documentary does provide you with will shock the hell out of you. Like after running a few companies into the ground did Dubya get elected Govenor of Texas, & then, get "elected" President of the US?
The revealing moment is when Bush is told of the World Trade Center disaster-in-the-making. He continues to sit with an elementary school & read one of their books with them, basically a PR gig. His eyes wander, there seems to be a look in his face that says "How the hell am I going to get outta this?"
The movie meanders occasionally, with Moore doing his vanity trip back to his hometown of Flint, Michigan to tape: 1)a woman who helps with unemployment & views the army as a viable employment opportunity (this will later come back to haunt her), 2)talk to students at a local high school about army recruiters, & 3)talk to the army recruiters themselves, who will pretty much remind you of telemarketers or Jehovah's Witnesses. Possibly Mormons. Whatever. It tends to make the movie more schizophrenic, with Moore stopping his character assasination to show the impact this Presidency has on the blue collar people throughout America.
Because of that, & the obvious bias Moore has, it's hard to fully endorse this movie, without seeing both sides. I'm hardly a Bush-supporter (although I do love the bush, ZING!), in fact I'm Canadian, but the way Moore has structured his movie, it seems too pat. I'm sure Bush's finanical backers aren't going to be putting too much into his re-election campaign after seeing this movie.
4 out of 5 for this documentary. Bowling For Columbine was a more powerful piece of film, because it wasn't a straight ahead opinion from the filmmaker. It was more open-ended.
Oh yeah, I thought up a way Bush could get re-elected. Remember Men In Black? If they build a freaking HUGE one of those memory eraser things, flashed it the day before the election on the entire American populace & told them the past four years never happened, then yes, Bush can get re-elected. Or, if they somehow find a way to poison the water supply of America, & the only people that don't get poisoned are planted Bush supporters (planted Bush supporters? BWAhahahahah) that will vote him into the Presidency of a mostly dead country. That's it. Hypnotism or poison. Only ways for Bush to get re-elected. Feel free to leave your own conspiracy theories for me to be amused by.
Roger Ebert's review of Fahrenheit 9/11 (2004)
Andy's review of Fahrenheit 9/11 (2004)