Farenheit 9/11
I saw the movie this weekend. My short reveiw is that I'm glad I didn't pay money to see this movie. We borrowed the DVD from someone my wife works with. Let me begin by saying that as a fairly liberal Democrat, I love the idea of making Bush look foolish. However, this movie didn't really do that. On to specifics:
The first part of the movie seems to be this vague conspiracy theory that Bush stole the election and that the whole Iraq war was some sort of plot with the Saudis to steal Iraqi oil. While I agree with Moore that Bush had wanted to invade Iraq and topple Saddam long before he did it, I don't think oil is the reason. What the real reason is, I don't know, but I don't think it was oil. There were some interesting things with the election, especially the part about that no one in the Senate signed a statement for greivances when the election was formalized. However, Moore only showed minorities in the House objecting then stated that it was another example of blacks getting screwed. If the election was some conspiracy to disenfranchise blacks/hispanics, then why didn't any minority members of the Senate say anything? The whole Saudi thing was funny to a certain extent. Michael Moore seems suprised that rich Republicans with powerful friends in government help each other out to get more rich. It's not like this hasn't been going on for over 150 years. I'm sure rich Democrats do the same thing.
He also made a big deal out of the administration letting members of the Bin Laden family leave the US and not be questioned by the FBI/CIA. However, he doesn't get the other side of the story. For example, did any of them have any sort of diplomatic status? If this was the case, they don't have to be questioned and can't be arrested. It exemplifies my real problem with the film. I would have liked a balanced account with some attempt to get all the facts, not just the convenient or embarrasing ones. But that isn't Michael Moore's style. There's a big piece in the middle where he gets quotes from soldiers overseas that are critical of the administration. What about those over there that support the administration? Of course, that wouldn't really have gone with the theme of the film, would it?
Anyway, it was interesting to watch, but I can see why it didn't really influence the election at all. It's obviously a diatribe based on one person's opinion.
The first part of the movie seems to be this vague conspiracy theory that Bush stole the election and that the whole Iraq war was some sort of plot with the Saudis to steal Iraqi oil. While I agree with Moore that Bush had wanted to invade Iraq and topple Saddam long before he did it, I don't think oil is the reason. What the real reason is, I don't know, but I don't think it was oil. There were some interesting things with the election, especially the part about that no one in the Senate signed a statement for greivances when the election was formalized. However, Moore only showed minorities in the House objecting then stated that it was another example of blacks getting screwed. If the election was some conspiracy to disenfranchise blacks/hispanics, then why didn't any minority members of the Senate say anything? The whole Saudi thing was funny to a certain extent. Michael Moore seems suprised that rich Republicans with powerful friends in government help each other out to get more rich. It's not like this hasn't been going on for over 150 years. I'm sure rich Democrats do the same thing.
He also made a big deal out of the administration letting members of the Bin Laden family leave the US and not be questioned by the FBI/CIA. However, he doesn't get the other side of the story. For example, did any of them have any sort of diplomatic status? If this was the case, they don't have to be questioned and can't be arrested. It exemplifies my real problem with the film. I would have liked a balanced account with some attempt to get all the facts, not just the convenient or embarrasing ones. But that isn't Michael Moore's style. There's a big piece in the middle where he gets quotes from soldiers overseas that are critical of the administration. What about those over there that support the administration? Of course, that wouldn't really have gone with the theme of the film, would it?
Anyway, it was interesting to watch, but I can see why it didn't really influence the election at all. It's obviously a diatribe based on one person's opinion.
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