Movie Review :: Fahrenheit 9/11

Movie Review :: Fahrenheit 9/11
Posted :: Jun 30, 2004 by nguy0936

Fahrenheit 9/11
Starring: Michael Moore
Directed by: Michael Moore
Release Date: 06/23/2004
Run time: 116 min

This review is slightly different than normal. A couple members of the staff here at AI have seen this movie, and due to the nature of the film, each has a different view. This review contains a few different people's perspectives on the movie. Please post comments to let us know what you think of the format.

Impact:
I would like to start by saying I thoroughly enjoyed the movie. Fahrenheit 9/11 delves into many subjects that have been covered in the media throughout the last four years under George W. Bush. It deals with issues like September 11th, the "war" in Iraq, and the Patriot Act. Michael Moore is more well known for his documentaries, but whether Fahrenheit 9/11 is a "true documentary" is debatable. It has only been deemed a documentary by the people who put movies in genres, and I assume they have some sort of basis for putting it there, however Fahrenheit 9/11 struck me as more of a movie than a documentary.

Armed Service recruiters walk around in Flint near a mall trying to convince teens to joining the military.

While some of the images in the movie are quite graphic (mostly involving the "war" in Iraq), they are used to illustrate a point. Michael Moore chooses his pictures and clips wisely. The movie flows nicely and always leaves you wondering what he will look into next.

While I didn't support the "war" in Iraq, or the "war" on terror, I did try to view the movie with a skeptical eye. I wanted to try and find holes in Mr. Moore's logic to console myself about the current state of the United States. Unfortunately, Moore made the task more difficult than I had originally planned. There are a handful added tid-bits throughout the movie that lead me to believe that the Bush Administrations views this film (or Michael Moore) as a threat. At one point during the movie, Moore is across the street from the Saudi Embassy while talking with Mr. Unger he is stopped and questioned by a Secret Service member. Moore asked the Secret Service member if it is a normal procedure for the Secret Service to guard the Saudi Embassy, and the officer replied, "no".

Secret Service members approach Michael Moore as he films across the street from the Saudi Embassy.

I highly suggest seeing Fahrenheit 9/11. If you are Anti-Bush, go see it to further back your reasons. If you are pro-Bush I strongly suggest you see it, if only to test your reasons to support him. I give the movie a 9/10 rating.

nguy:
I went to this movie expecting 3 things: Bush bashing, Michael Moore's crazy antics, and a strong left wing bias. I did not leave disappointed. In Michael Moore's latest escapade, he goes after George W. Bush and his war in Iraq. From the title, it would be easy to assume that the movie would be about the events that happened on September 11th, 2001; however that is only a small part of the film. Most of the movie consisted of Moore speaking out against Bush and his war in Iraq as well as many of his business relations. Moore makes many insinuations about Bush's relation to the disaster of September 11th, but as usual he never says outright what he gets everybody to believe; Bush and his buddies profited off September 11th.

As usual, Moore uses sneaky and usually very misleading editing, to strengthen his point. This movie, unlike his other movies, gets very emotional at some points by utilizing some very disturbing videos to stir the concerns of viewers. Despite the serious nature of the movie, Moore trivializes Bush and Republicans in general by usually playing circus or upbeat wacky music while keeping the more serious moments without any sort of distracting background music.

It is obvious that Moore is very anti-right wing, although you might be able to assume that that would make him very leftist, it doesn't show in the movie. Fahrenheit 9/11 shows a lot of Bush bashing and right wing bashing in general. This is what concerned me the most, as he would use various editing techniques to further bash the right wing usually unfairly.

Unlike Moore's other films, this film, seemed not to be an informative documentary, but rather a film for entertainment and for him to voice his opinion on the current situation with our country and of Iraq.

Aside from Moore's very anti-right wing bias, I enjoy Moore's in-your-face style of cinemetography. It lets his viewers see what people are like when they don't have time to think of a cover story. I give this movie a 1/10 as a documentary, but as a film a 5/10. There were many times thoughout the movie where I was getting bored due to his repetitive nature. The discrepency between my film rating and documentary rating comes from Moore's past credibility, mainly from Bowling for Columbine where many accusations were made that all of the facts asserted in the movie were unsubstantiated. To this day, Moore has not been able to substantiate those facts. That makes me wonder where he is getting his facts for Fahrenheit 9/11.

There is profane language and some rather disturbing video in this movie. I would advise that children not see this and stick by the R rating.

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