Audience Reactions to Fahrenheit 911

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Audience Reactions to Fahrenheit 911

 

there are detractors on both sides of the political spectrum to this film. On one side of the political spectrum (without labeling either side), many feel it doesn't go far enough and omits too much. My response is, well, if it went further and showed more of the central issues to this subject, then people really would not get to see it. It would never have made it to mainstream America. On that other side of the political spectrum they feel it shows and says way too much. My reply: well just about every other piece of Hollywood, Burbank schlock and radio/TV pundits and glossy in-our-face rags have been pro Bush, reporting every administration lie as if it was the God's honest truth and insidiously brainwashing the population further out along the rightwing, as well as into heavier and heavier consumption. Like I said, it's not even as if you've been supersized back. But that doesn't negate the blatantly true facts thruout this film. There's just even more to be told. This has been left up to the people and we got all summer and fall too.

 

wuji wrote:

 

Good news from the USA -- reaction to the M M film: "The theater was packed, and the filmed received an uninterrupted 5-minutestanding ovation at its conclusion. What a phenomenal piece of work--MichaelMoore is a genius who might finally save this country from itself."--Alabama "I even got my republican father a ticket to see the movie in OrangeCounty. Needless to say after he saw the movie he now plans to vote againstthe Bush. He has voted Republican since Nixon."-- California "I found myself in my car driving home, tears uncontrollably rolling down myface. I am 40 years old, own two companies and teach part-time at a highschool. I have a post graduate degree and have been a fairly educatedliberal all my life. Tonight I saw nothing many things I already knew, yethow you shared your thoughts and ideas will effect me for the rest of mylife. I am deeply saddened by all of this, but yet thankful for all that youhave done. So many American and Iraqi lives have been given, all in the nameof greed." -- California "I was in a sold out theatre of mostly veterans and Senior citizens. Thetheatre was so full they had to have exceeded the fire code. The amount ofpeople standing through out the whole movie was roughly around a third ofthe amount of people sitting. Including 70+ year old people. I have neverseen so many people share tears with eachother since 9/11. I am a 23 yearold male, who does not open up. I cried my eyes out during the wholefilm."-- Florida

 

"The show was amazing, moving, and often hard to watch. I cried so hard somany times. Thank you for this film. But thank you also for giving ussomething to rally behind. I haven't seen so many people looking so hopefulin a long time. We all looked down at the long, long line, and we allfigured out the same thing at the same time: this will end. This horriblelie we have been delivered in this administration, this plague -- it will goaway, because in Ames, Iowa, in tiny little Ames, Iowa, a show about howwrong our country has gone packed the house. Twice in one night. And thinkof all the people we will tell, and how many will go see it after tonight.-- Iowa

 

 

"I sat in a packed theater that was packed with wealthy people from all overthe eastside of Rochester, NY. This rich, conservative, white audience brokeinto applause several times during the screening. Thunderous applause roseup at the end. I WAS AMAZED. We walked out, quietly, but excited about whatto do next. We were greeted by lines of people crushing in to see the nextshow. Something wonderful in happening here."-- New York State

 

 

Finally, from a Canadian: "I can only hope this movie will encourageCanadian voters NOT to vote for Stephen Harper, the right-wing conservativewho wants to take our country closer to the Bushes of the world. We have toomuch to lose to let that happen." --Montreal

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Review by Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun Times, June 24/04

"Michael Moore's "Fahrenheit 9/11" is less an expose of George W. Bush thana dramatization of what Moore sees as a failed and dangerous presidency. Thecharges in the film will not come as news to those who pay attention topolitics, but Moore illustrates them with dramatic images and a relentlesscommentary track that essentially concludes Bush is incompetent, dishonest,failing in the war on terrorism, and has bad taste in friends.

Although Moore's narration ranges from outrage to sarcasm, the mostdevastating passage in the film speaks for itself. That's when Bush, who wasreading My Pet Goat to a classroom of Florida children, is notified of thesecond attack on the World Trade Center, and yet lingers with the kids foralmost seven minutes before finally leaving the room. His inexplicableparalysis wasn't underlined in news reports at the time, and only Moorethought to contact the teacher in that schoolroom -- who, as it turned out,had made her own video of the visit. The _expression on Bush's face as hesits there is odd indeed.

Bush, here and elsewhere in the film, is characterized as a man who owes alot to his friends, including those who helped bail him out of businessventures. Moore places particular emphasis on what he sees as a long-termfriendship between the Bush family (including both presidents) and powerfulSaudi Arabians. More than $1.4 billion in Saudi money has flowed into thecoffers of Bush family enterprises, he says, and after 9/11 the White Househelped expedite flights out of the country carrying, among others, membersof the bin Laden family (which disowns its most famous member).

Moore examines the military records released by Bush to explain hisdisappearance from the Texas Air National Guard, and finds that the name ofanother pilot has been blacked out. This pilot, he learns, was Bush's closefriend James R. Bath, who became Texas money manager for the billionaire binLadens. Another indication of the closeness of the Bushes and the Saudis:The law firm of James Baker, the secretary of State for Bush's father, washired by the Saudis to defend them against a suit by a group of 9/11 victimsand survivors, who charged that the Saudis had financed al-Qaida.

To Moore, this is more evidence that Bush has an unhealthy relationship withthe Saudis, and that it may have influenced his decision to go to waragainst Iraq at least partially on their behalf. The war itself Mooreconsiders unjustified (no WMDs, no Hussein-bin Laden link), and he talkswith American soldiers, including amputees, who complain bitterly aboutBush's proposed cuts of military salaries at the same time he was sendingthem into a war that they (at least, the ones Moore spoke to) hated.

Moore also shows American military personnel who are apparently enjoying thewar; he has footage of soldiers who use torture techniques not in a prisonbut in the field, where they hood an Iraqi prisoner, call him "Ali Baba" andpose for videos while touching his genitals.

Moore brings a fresh impact to familiar material by the way he marshals hisimages. We are all familiar with the controversy over the 2000 election,which was settled by the U.S. Supreme Court. What I hadn't seen before wasfootage of the ratification of Bush's election by the U.S. Congress. Anelection can be debated at the request of one senator and onerepresentative; 10 representatives rise to challenge it, but not a singlesenator. As Moore shows the challengers, one after another, we cannot helpnoting that they are eight black women, one Asian woman and one black man.They are all gaveled into silence by the chairman of the joint congressionalsession -- Vice President Al Gore. The urgency and futility of the scenereawakens old feelings for those who believe Bush is an illegitimatepresident.

"Fahrenheit 9/11" opens on a note not unlike Moore's earlier films, such as"Roger & Me" and "Bowling for Columbine." Moore, as narrator, brings humorand sarcasm to his comments, and occasionally appears onscreen in a gadflyrole. It's vintage Moore, for example, when he brings along an unsuspectingMarine recruiter as he confronts congressmen, urging them to have theirchildren enlist in the service. And he makes good use of candid footage,including an eerie video showing Bush practicing facial expressions beforegoing live with his address to the nation about 9/11.

Apparently Bush and other members of his administration don't know whatevery TV reporter knows, that a satellite image can be live before they getthe cue to start talking. That accounts for the quease-inducing footage ofDeputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz wetting his pocket comb in his mouthbefore slicking back his hair. When that doesn't do it, he spits in his handand wipes it down. If his mother is alive, I hope for his sake she doesn'tsee this film.

Such scenes are typical of vintage Moore, catching his subjects off guard.But his film grows steadily darker, and Moore largely disappears from it, ashe focuses on people such as Lila Lipscomb, from Moore's hometown of Flint,Mich.; she reads a letter from her son, written days before he was killed inIraq. It urges his family to work for Bush's defeat.

"Fahrenheit 9/11" is a compelling, persuasive film, at odds with the WhiteHouse effort to present Bush as a strong leader. He comes across as ashallow, inarticulate man, simplistic in speech and inauthentic in manner.If the film is not quite as electrifying as Moore's "Bowling for Columbine,"that may be because Moore has toned down his usual exuberance and wassobered by attacks on the factual accuracy of elements of "Columbine";playing with larger stakes, he is more cautious here, and we get an op-edpiece, not a stand-up routine. But he remains one of the most valuablefigures on the political landscape, a populist rabble-rouser, humorous andeffective; the outrage and incredulity in his film are an exhilaratingresponse to Bush's determined repetition of the same stubborn sound bites. "