Fahrenheit 9/11. A Review. There are things in this film.... (Long)

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Fri Jun-25-04 04:29 AM
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Fahrenheit 9/11. A Review. There are things in this film.... (Long)

Edited on Fri Jun-25-04 04:50 AM by cease_fire

Fahrenheit 9/11 A Review �

There are no secrets � Just things that you don�t know yet�

Today, Vice President Dick Cheney dropped an F Bomb on a Democratic Senator.

Tonight, Michael More dropped THE F-Bomb on the Bush Administration.

The following is not an ego stroke � I simply want you to be able to judge the source (Me) so you can better understand my perspective.

I am white, successfully self-employed, and an independent feature filmmaker. I was at NYU when the first Gulf War claimed the hearts and minds of 2 dear friends, and was speaking at a NYU alumni reunion when the CNN Night Vision enhanced web cam ushered in Shock and Awe.

I have no love of politics, but when this government�s math stopped adding up, I was quickly drawn into the vortex of the DU.

While lurking, I�ve seen the tell-tale signs of thought-leaders, and the outrage of patriots at the very edge of reason. Even while I�ve been carefully considering all sides of just about every post ever written in the last 3 months � I haven�t had much to contribute.

Until Now.

Despite the fact that Fandango trailers bother me, and Loews theaters will soon be another statistic in the monopolizing of our media, my business partner and soul mate decided to brave the midnight showing of Fahrenheit 9/11.

We arrived early, and surprisingly found a fabulous seat center row, center theater. Only about 50 other folks shared the theater with us, all looking around nervously � watching for protesters, I suspect.

But, as midnight drew closer, wave after wave of every type of person walked up the aisle.

By 5 minutes of 12 � the fire marshal was �escorting� folks to another theater where an impromptu showing was quickly arranged.

The house was packed.

And the mood? Positively electric!

Though it�s hot in New Jersey this time of year, the air tonight was chilly. As the audience settled into their seats, jackets came off � revealing t-shirts with American Flags, and silk screen prints with �Any Body But Bush� emblazoned across chests and shoulders.

Almost a party. Almost a good time. And it got better before�

Michael Moore�s film begins in a masterful but predictable way. For the first 10 minutes or so, he leads us through a survey of a stolen presidential election, an impotent Senate, a failing, vacationing president, and an atmosphere of American political malaise�

Just like any other day in the US.

We�ve seen this material and have heard this testimony before. Indeed, as we watched, I was amused by the audience reactions. Laughter, Mirth, and a true appreciation of the irony of an unqualified leader doing just a little bit of damage to the Institution of Government.

Then the screen just stopped glowing. No images.

Just sound.

We�ve seen what happened on 9/11/01 over and over again. We�ve watched with horror, disbelief and grief.

But you�ve never heard it. Not like this.

Unless you were at ground zero that day � you�ve never felt it.

From behind us, a shriek of an aircraft in a power dive shook the stadium seating. It passed over our heads and into the dark screen.

Then it exploded. And then lower Manhattan screamed.

And then it happened again.

There is no use trying to describe this sensation to you. It rattled my chair.

And it ripped my heart into shreds.

Everything old, everything healed � is new again.

As the images begin to re-appear on the screen, the soundtrack whispers into the background. It becomes just quiet enough so you can hear the sobs - the crying of the people sitting next to you.

Even in a theater full of young people, the reverence and anguish was unmistakable.

And that�s when Fahrenheit 9/11 really begins.

If you�ve been a regular visitor of DU for long, chances are that you�ve been witness to most of the articulated discussions of issues that Michael Moore presents in the film.

With that said � there�s a lot here that you haven�t seen. And for the parts that you have � you�ve never seen it like this.

We spend a great deal of time here at the DU debating different perspectives, and every once in a while, a situation comes along that gives us cause to band together and support one another, or rejoice in a victory for our cause.

F-9/11 does something more, something that�s difficult for us to do, with our text based medium.

It shows us � the implications, and the results.

As the United States War Machine prepares for its inevitable confrontation with Saddam Hussein, we get a glimpse of the humanity that our coalition of the willing is about to destroy.

Yes, there are children in Iraq that fly kites, go to amusement parks and ride Ferris wheels (This little tidbit didn�t make it onto Fox), families cooking out, riding bikes, getting married, and singing songs.

All the while, the US War Machine spools it�s turbines up to full throttle, and unleashes utter devastation on Iraqis who are�

a lot like us.

The reports of Moore�s death as a talented director have been, in a phrase, Highly Exaggerated.

This is a masterful work of film making. Slick, Polished, well paced, full of vim and vigor, and -

not anywhere as unfair as the critics on the Right would have you think.

It�s clear when Moore is pontificating. It�s clear when he�s poking fun and razzing the establishment. What�s so very telling, and in my opinion, so very clever is his silence.

Michael Moore doesn�t rub political salt into the continuous incompetence of this administration, or it�s behavior.

He doesn�t have to.

He doesn�t need to say anything when the AG starts singing his own national fight song (Let the Eagles Soar!). He doesn�t need to comment on GWB�s �I call you my base� fund raising dinner.

He let�s the �talkies� do the work � and the effect is maddening.

I�ve never heard an �Oh Jesus� or �What the F**K?� muttered from an audience member during Lord of the Rings, or Harry Potter.

Tonight, these utterances came after every scene.

Have you ever looked behind you in a crowded theater during a sad moment in a film? Then you�ll understand what I�m about to describe.

A very gracious woman who gave her only soon to the service of the United States Marine Corps decided to take a trip to the White House only a few months after her son was lost in a Black Hawk crash.

While in the area in front of the White House, she happens upon a woman who has erected an ad-hoc shrine to protest the war.

The two woman break down almost immediately, but then�

Some �person� which can only be described as a �Do-Good-er with ill intentions� decides that this meeting is a �Set-up�.

This 3rd woman cries �This is Staged! This is Staged!� and tries to position herself between the camera and our 2 grieving mothers.

Meanwhile, the mother who had buried her son that spring lets this representative of the Thought Police know that her boy was killed in Iraq.

Unbelievably, this Monster wants proof! So she then counters with �Where? What Date? Hmmmm? Come On! Where? What Date?�

�Karballah, April 2nd.�

�Oh.�

I turned around, startled by all of the sniffing and explicatives coming from the upper level of the theaters.

And there, in the bright-reflected light of the film�s screen, hundreds of cheeks, streaked with tears � faces contorted in to rage.

This film will mark a turning point in our country's consciousness.

I could spend the better part of a week coming to grips with what I saw early this morning. And I�m sure that I�ll spend the better part of the rest of this year doing everything that I can to stop the degeneration of the land I live in.

But let me leave you with a few thoughts, and some of the conclusions I drew from this film.

We actually have been duped.

There�s no conjecture here. You don�t need to stretch your imagination or suddenly become �un-stubborn� in order to connect the dots.

There�s no benevolent Blue Blooded family trying to make our world a better, safer place. Even though that�s what they�d have you believe.

The Bush Family's legacy of greed, and their perfect execution of power manipulation, good old boy network, and their lemming constituency have succeeded in usurping power from the citizens of this country.

You don�t need to be wary of this conclusion. You don�t need to be humble amongst your friends, family, republican brother-in-law or right-winged co-workers.

Not any more.

We�re about to see a whole branch of our government, of corporate controlled media and fundamentalist right-wing groups leap into damage control mode with a flurry of denials and outrage like we�ve never seen.

Well, maybe not like we�ve ever seen, but�

The point is � it�s all there. Sure, there�s humor, sarcasm, irony�

There�s juxtaposition of images and events in order to amplify emotions, in order to illustrate ideas and foster connections between the �Players�.

But there�s no showmanship in the testimony of our troops that languish in Iraq, wondering what the hell they�re doing there.

Michael Moore didn�t write the script for the roving Marine Corps Recruiters � the ones that, well, I�m not sure that there�s a stronger expression for the word �Lie��

But after seeing this film, there ought to be.

He didn�t need to. So he doesn�t.

Because he�s got this "thing" working for him.

I�m sure some of the Bush Administration wonders what it�s like to have truth on their side.

I�m sorry if you just now got over the tragedy of 9/11. Maybe you�ve found peace with the state of our world, even the hypocrisy and failure of our democracy.

If you�d like to continue, blissfully unaware of just how much trouble your way of life is in, then don�t see this film.

On the other hand, if you need just a little push�

You know, just a little incentive to start a march on Washington�

Then this is it.

*edited for grammer