No one can ever accuse Michael Moore of being impartial. Then again, September 11, 2001 is not a date about which it is possible to be impartial. Even with all the controversy surrounding this film, I believe that Fahrenheit 9/11 should be required viewing for anyone of eligible voting age in the United States if only so they can see how George W. Bush sat there for 12 minutes doing nothing but look blank. Whether or not those twelve minutes have made a difference in the long run in the chronology of September 11th is something that can, and will, be endlessly debated. Moore’s focus, though, isn’t really on September 11th but what the attacks have been used to justify: a obvious war for oil profits in Iraq.
In many ways, Moore is a skillful and masterful filmmaker. He manages to bring back all the terror and shock of September 11th without using a single visual. A harrowing stretch of time early in this film is devoted to a sound track filled with the noises of destruction and confusion. The blacked out screen seems to go on forever (in reality it’s probably only about two minutes long).
After that, Moore’s film becomes an enraging and largely flawed mess of accusations regarding the Bush family and their relationships with the Saudi royal family which never quite comes out and says that the Saudis have, essentially, bought themselves a Manchurian candidate in W. Moore spends quite a bit of time talking with a woman from his hometown of Flint, Michigan whose son has been shipped to Iraq. It’s not hard to see where her story will, sadly, end up.
One thing that Moore does do is bring to light just how skillfully the American public was manipulated in 2002 and 2003 by the Department of Homeland Security. The repeated, vague terror warnings with no public data behind them put the American populace in a prime position to accept wholesale not only the USA Patriot Act but also the war in Iraq. They unbalanced us, they made us frightened, and yet, we’re supposed to behave as if nothing is wrong? It was schizophrenic at best.
Fahrenheit 9/11 is a flawed film at best, and Moore’s politics are extremely confusing and more than a little bit self-consciously liberal. The one thing this film does do, though, that is vitally needed in these confusing times: it makes you think. It makes you reconsider the world as you “know” it. (For some excellent analysis see Mark Morford’s column on SFGate.com and Christopher Hitchens’ column on Slate.com). For this and for daring to poke a sharp stick in the eye of the current administration, I give this film 3 out of a possible 5 popcorn boxes.
