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Fahrenheit
9/11, 2004, 122 minutes, Rated R
By Ramona Prioleau
In
remarks to a tuxedoed and bejeweled throng at a fundraising dinner,
President George W. Bush quips that he's pleased to address his
political base of the "haves" and "have mores." In
isolation, Bush's off-the-cuff remark merely indicates elitist bad
taste. In the context of Fahrenheit 9/11, that reference positions
Bush as an executive beholden to the wealthy and shamelessly willing
to kowtow to their interests. Bush isn't the first politician to
deliver on promises made to his political base by backing policies
engineered to enrich them. But if the evidence presented in Fahrenheit
is incontrovertible, Bush's support of policies to benefit the
financial haves continue to have a deadly affect on the financial have
nots. If director Michael Moore has his way, the detrimental affect of
Bush's governmental policies will negatively impact Bush's chance of
re-election.
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And an
election is where Moore kicks off his film, reminding all of the chaos
surrounding Florida's miscounts, recounts and discounts in the 2000
presidential election. For those with limited recall, Moore then
springs an am-Bush by revealing a succession of clips depicting the
43rd President of the United States and his cabinet members in
guffaw-inducing moments. GW comes across as such a nincompoop one
wonders how Moore's brazen attack on the White House wasn't thwarted
by a politically launched SCUD missile.
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Alas, the multiple
strains of free speech, dual party politics and capitalism form the
basis of the American way of life, so even the leader of one of the
most powerful countries in the world could not squash Fahrenheit,
Michael Moore's rambling indictment of Bush's presidency. The Walt
Disney Company's eleventh hour refusal to distribute the film
initially seemed to impede Moore's assault. However, a coalition of
indie guerilla distributors rallied to Moore's defense. MORE >>>
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"This
is an impressive crowd - the haves and the have mores. Some people
call you the elite - I call you my base." - George W. Bush
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Fahrenheit
pulls no punches, using archival footage and personal interviews to
portray Bush's ineptitude in the wake of 9/11 and the deadly
repercussions of his war-mongering presidency. Moore injects humor
into his documentary to ease the harsh realities of Bush's oval office
policies that have lead to an ever-increasing demand for body bags. In
some respects, Fahrenheit serves as an essential counterpoint to what
has been almost three years of news coverage by US television outlets
that has presented a rose-colored view of the impact of American
foreign policy in the Middle East. In other respects, it's a canvass
of individuals most affected by America's 9/11 response and ultimately
a measure of political dissatisfaction. While some will take issue
with the one-sidedness of the film, there's no avoiding the damning
evidence in support of Moore's premise that a financial relationship
exists between the Bush family and the Saudi Bin Laden family.
Dismissing Moore as a mere pawn of the Democratic
Party ignores the iconoclasm that has characterized his filmmaking.
While definitely politically liberal, Moore is nobody's lackey as that
would require staunch adherence to the party line and an unwillingness
to upset those left of center. In fact, Moore is self-righteous and
opinionated with a penchant for doggedly pursuing issues that strike
his fancy and a reputation for commentary that points fingers at both
sides of the aisle in a manner that pisses off some and endears him to
others.
A film that agitates, Fahrenheit is loosely
described as a documentary and more accurately plays as an
investigative report laced with satirical political gibes.
Unfortunately, Moore's manner of mixing genres tends to devalue his
presentation of cold hard facts that reveal a history of financial
ties between certain Texans and Saudis. Nevertheless, Moore's
filmmaking artistry is at its best when he removes images from
Fahrenheit's depiction of the 9/11 terrorist attack. Since footage of
airline jets as torpedoes attacking American soil was so often shown
on television, it lost its visual potency. Thus, at the point where
lampooning the first eight months of the Bush administration had
reached a comic height, Moore wisely fades to black and allows the
shrieks of horror of that day to reverberate with jolting audible
intensity
For all intents and purposes, after Fahrenheit, the
jig should be up for Bush II as Moore airs a lot of the Bush clan's
dirty laundry and provides a cinematic platform for civil and military
dissent. But the fact that Moore opts for levity where logical
persuasion is preferable and that Fahrenheit fails to present a
tightly constructed argument in support of all the positions taken in
the film may limit the far-reaching impact of Fahrenheit. Undoubtedly,
the film will fire up the rank and file Democrat. It remains to be
seen if the film has the power to influence third party faithfuls to
rally around the Democratic flagpole; convince otherwise apathetic
voters to exercise their franchise and encourage the angst-ridden
undecideds to get off the fence. M
June 2004
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