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Fahrenheit 911

Film // Jim // 20th July 2004

Many people have taken issue with Michael Moore’s new documentary, the right wing press in America is fairly pissed off as you would expect.
Dubious historian and journalist Christopher Hitchins seems fairly disgusted by what he sees as the distortion of fact and slight of hand propaganda tricks in the movie.
Pete ‘Research’ Townsend and Ray Bradbury both contend that Moore is something of a prick, Townsend due to a dispute over the use of a song and Bradbury over the clumsily appropriated title.
Even in the media press Fahrenheit 9/11 has had a bit of a kicking from those who certainly seem to have no political agenda, Mark Kermode has been particularly vocal regarding his dislike of the film.

Apart from the right wing nutters that this film is taking aim against, most of the complaints against both Moore and the film seem to have some level of substance.
- Yes, the title is crap and he should have asked first.
- No it isn’t nice to label someone pro-war just because they don’t want their song in your film.
- Yes, it is full of editing tricks and one sided polemic.

However to concentrate on the smaller issues and detailed technicalities of how information is presented is to miss the broader point. Michael Moore has made a superb, entertaining film which manages to convey quite clearly and fairly objectively the fact that the minority of rich, powerful people in this world will stop at no ends to stay rich and powerful and become more so.

As one interviewee says early on, there is no huge conspiracy about ruling the world, it is all about amassing as much wealth as possible. What Moore’s film eloquently demonstrates is that one of the most effective ways of doing that is the abuse of positions of power.

In following the chain of events from Bush’s inauguration through 9/11 and onwards into the war in Iraq, Moore asserts that the “fictional” President and his buddies are just on one big moneymaking kick. Unfortunately for the people of America and Iraq it is them that is footing the bill, either through their taxes, their lives or their children's lives.

Moore asks Senators to sign their kids up for a military tour of Iraq

Through skilful use of editing, news footage, graphics and narration, the film outlines many of the outrageous flaws in the Bush administration including a lot of things you probably already knew and lots of things you didn’t.

To start with the film ridicules Bush with nonchalant ease, not exactly difficult, this is after all a man who was once nearly fatally outsmarted by a savoury snack. The most pointed bit of Bush kicking is the celebrated scene where he has been told that the second plane has just hit the WTC while he is sitting in a primary school classroom. His response (to pick up a book entitled ‘My Pet Goat’ and begin to read along with the kids) does more to damage the image of this sad and inadequate man than any amount of sarcastic voice-over could manage. Moore does indulge himself though, just to really put the boot in and at this point, who’s complaining?

Following an extended trawl through the investigation of 9/11 and the links between the Bush and Bin Laden clans we head towards the invasion of Iraq, this is where the film really kicks into gear. In reviewing the horrendous screeching patriotic shite and skilfully orchestrated manipulation of public fear and paranoia that was served up by what masquerades as the ”media” in the USA, it is easier (but still not easy) to understand why the average American was so convinced that they should go and kick Saddam's WMD totin’ ass.

The realisation that they have been hoodwinked starts to dawn for some early in the conflict and eventually even the military start to feel that they have been sent out to secure oil money and healthy contracts for companies that just happen to be run by senior figures in the Bush administration or their cronies. However feeling this way is one thing but actually saying something about it in America is quite something else. The ghost of George Orwell seems to hover over proceedings saying “I told you so”, indeed Moore concludes by quoting from 1984.

Fahrenheit 9/11 is brutal in reinforcing the real cost of the invasion of Iraq, both in terms of showing the horrors that the conflict has delivered to the people of Iraq and the terrible limbo that the American armed forces find themselves in. Parts of the film are not easy viewing; dead children are not nice to look at and neither are grieving parents, however they are both indicative of the consequences of the invasion and the film would be dishonest if it shied away from them.

Despite the weighty subject matter and the more sombre moments this is a really entertaining film for the most part, chock full of darkly amusing interludes. My personal favourite is the scene following a couple of Marine recruiting officers as they look around for disenfranchised kids to persuade to join the forces, like the worst life insurance salesman there seems no tactic too low for these two men to use. The bit about Shaggy is particularly painful.

Marine recruiters: The most shameless bastards you have ever seen

Of course all the best propaganda is disguised as entertainment and this film most certainly is anti-Bush and anti-Republican propaganda. Information may be taken out of context, sound bites cut off at opportune moments for maximum impact, but these are all tactics that politicians have been using for year and for them to criticise Moore for using the same techniques seems like hypocrisy of the highest order. However there are some crass moments; showing pre-war Iraq as a happy place where kids play in the street and everyone is happily going about their business does seem something of a stretch. Things just aren’t that black and white.

I think this is an excellent film and a great piece of political argument, that is not to say that you should accept all of Fahrenheit 9/11 as gospel truth. Go and see this film intending to be cynical, go and see it looking for reasons to pick holes in Moore’s arguments, but most importantly - go and see it.

Related Links

michaelmoore.com

Moore's web site: Loads of info about the film and related issues

Moorewatch.com

The main anti-Moore site that Google throws up (and there are plenty) quite disturbing in parts. You have been warned

Mark Kermode Article

Less scary criticism of Moore and his film from the Guardian web site

The White House

The President's home page

Stop the War Coalition

The UK anti-war organisation (for fucks sake, get a new web designer lads)

Bush quotes site

One of those sites that gathers together evidence to prove that Bush is a cretin