Gandhi Reviews Fahrenheit 911

I finally went to see Fahrenheit 911 last night.

After having heard and read so much about it, I was curious to see the movie but felt I already knew a lot of what was to come. After the first couple of minutes, I unburdened myself of that illusion! Based on the quality of his previous documentaries, I also suspected that his Cannes Palme D'Or might have been a bit undeserved, given the French-US political climate and the healine-grabbing antics of Cannes judges like Quentin Tarantino. But when the movie ended, I found myself applauding wholeheartedly along with most of the audience (and it's already been showing for over a week here in Australia, so these were not die-hard supporters).

The first half was particularly good, with a concentrated attack on the Bush family's connections to the Saudi royal family. The second half developed more of a human-interest angle, with longer scenes where the camera dwells on a single subject's grief. This might be good movie-making for less informed viewers, but personally I felt there was a lot more criticism of Bush that could have been packed into the 2 hours. It shows the problems of a production schedule. The images of prisoner abuse, for example, were already in the can before the Abu Ghraib scandal hit the headlines.

One scene that really struck me was when Moore was interviewing someone about the Patriot Act and they mentioned the possible dangers faced by anyone who dares to oppose such draconian laws. "Yeah," Moore muttered quietly, "Like me..."

It's not a line than many people would have noticed. But as someone who has been blogging anonymously against Bush for over a year, I could readily identify with the sentiment. It took a lot of bravery to make Fahrenheit 911, and Moore has taken an incredible amount of abuse, from personal abuse to violent threats, from public ridicule to co-ordinated political pressure. Despite the minimal traffic this site attracts, I've had my share of crazy emails and more than one quiet expression of concern from family members. Michael Moore is a very brave and courageous man who has made an important movie.

If you haven't seen it yet - go and see it. If you think the facts are wrong, or if you want to argue with others who think the facts are wrong, check out Mike's long list of rebuttals on his Web site.

Back home after the movie, I went online and read a BBC reader feedback session about the movie. I was surprised how negative many - if not most - of the comments were, given the good-natured humour that permeates the movie. I also found it very ironic that people were accusing Moore of "manipulating the truth" and "selective editing", not to mention "inciting hatred", "discrediting the USA" and "dividing our great nation" - these are exactly the things that Moore is accusing Bush & Co of doing! Just goes to show... something!