MY THOUGHTS ON FARENHEIT 9/11

I had tickets for a 10:20 showing last night with a couple of close friends and a handful of socialists. For some reason we all got tickets to the theatre at Barton Creek Square Mall. The place was packed - inside and out. Crowds of people were still waiting on the 9:40 showing that was going on 4 screens, and the 10:20 folks were mixed in waiting for their 4 screens to open. It was chaotic, and one of a few theatres in town showing the film. No one seemed to have control of the situation. There were probably only 6 or 7 employees working, and most were under 22 and didn't care if people had tickets or not. The type of chaos - absent some sort of police force nearby - is something I haven't experienced since eating in the cafeteria at my high school during the 90's (and at my high school the police were never too far away).

The film itself was really good. It didn't live up to my expectations, but my expectations were really high.

Problems

Moore really seems to walk a narrow path between liberal politics and leftist politics. He's the type of guy that wants to throw molotov cocktails at the U.S. Capitol, but prefers to do it while waving an American flag. He notes in one scene that Oregon can't afford to have enough state troopers on the road, presumably because that money is going to Bush's frivolous war in
Iraq and other adventures. If they had the money, perhaps they could protect the coastline against the real terrorist threats. Of course, I don't think we have much to worry about on the coast of Oregon from terrorists and could care less if there wasn't a single trooper on duty there.

There was some critique of the Democrats, but ultimately there was a strong message favoring that party. This was bothersome considering Kerry doesn't seem to have the same concerns about the Iraq war Moore does. Indeed Kerry wants to increase troops. I wish he had focused more on how the Democrats often played the same game Bush did - trying to act tough on terrorism while thinking only about their own interests.

He seemed to pin a lot on the Saudis, which I think is more accurate than the fantasies the Bush administration consistently and methodically announced as truth. But some of his lashing out at the Saudis seemed racist. It was almost as if he was playing on anti-Arab sentiment when he showed scene after scene of Bush Jr., Bush Sr., Powell and others meeting with anonymous Saudi after anonymous Saudi wearing traditional Saudi garb. Was Moore trying to raise doubts about Bush's purity and nationalism in the minds of anti-Arab American bigots when he made this point?

Moore often does a great job of using music in his movies. It sets a mood - often humor but sometimes sadness. But I think he overdid it in this film. The number of tunes used and the number of video montages used made the movie a little less cohesive than some of his earlier films.

All in All Not A Problem

Overall, I think it is incredible that this film is in theatres and getting such a great reception. What I am most impressed with (and I wish I saw more of this) was how Moore showed images that are indisputed as the truth - dead civilians, dead soldiers, Bush playing golf - and contrasted those scenes with the blather of the U.S. mainstream media. For all the discussion in the media about this film being propoganda, the most powerful counter-argument is the film itself and the scenes that show the obvious propoganda of the news media in this country. The media waves flags and ridicules anyone who questions the administration while thousands of innocent people die, but Moore puts facts together brilliantly arguing that we should NOT be sending our children oversees to kill other children and he's the crazy guy with an agenda?!?!

Michael, you should work on improving your message, but thanks so much for this film.