Film Review

I went to see Michael Moore's latest documentary the day it came out here in Los Angeles. What a scene - this was something new! the movie as event is nothing new, in fact, it happens all the time in a place like L.A. which is built around the entertainment industry, but this time it was film as a political event. I have never experienced anything like it. The atmosphere was like a political campaign rally-people with voter registration forms-others handing out flyers and all sorts of stuff.

Watching the movie was a new experience in cinema for me. People standing, cheering, booing, hissing, applauding, crying--not in the face of amazing technology or special effects but at the content. And as for the content, well, you would probably have had to be hiding under a rock not to know that Fahrenheit 9 is an examination of George Bush-9-the Saudis and the Iraq War. There is no doubt that Michael Moore presents a biased opinion about the events and, based on one's own political persuasion, that bias will either satisfy or draw ire. The television and radio here were abuzz with heated debate over this - the Republicans arguing that it is not a film but an extended political ad and should be viewed as such, therefore Republicans ought to stay away, attempting to dampen any political momentum the film might gather; the Democrats sayinghoping that it might give swing voters enough of a shove to get Bush out of the White House come November.

But in the end, it is not the politics but the humanity which makes the strongest case in this film. There is lots of interesting stuff on the Bush family and the House of Saud, but that's been covered more extensively elsewhere. There is some brutal footage of Bush at a school sitting with the children for ages after being informed of the planes flying onto the World Trade Center Bulding, a clock inserted into the screen to highlight the incredible time lapse before Bush reacts in any way, but that's been covered before.

What makes the film compelling are scenes of everyday life in Baghdad before and after the invasion which puts a human face on the Iraqis and presents a view of life there not shown here and an extended profile of a woman named Lila Lipscomb-a pro-Bush, pro-militray-pro-war advocate who undergoes a complete turnaround after her son is killed in Iraq. She is completely undone by the loss and attempts to resolve her internal conflicts on-screen--it is an incredilby moving piece of filmwork and Moore has to employ none of his usual heavy-handed documentary voice-over to get the point across.

Fahrenheit 9 has grossed over million dollars here in the U.S and generated almost as much public debate as Mel Gibson's Passion--both films are unique to contemporary cinema in that they present decidedly one-sided views of a story, presenting that view with force, passion and film-making expertise--it's good to have work that doesn't cater to the bland political correctness of our time. Whether or not Moore's film will affect the outcome of the election is uncertain. Many in the 'know' say that it won't that elections are not won on cinema screeens--I am not so sure this time. There will be other factors of course, but Fahrenheit 9 has found it's way into the fabric of the culture in an election year, in a nation increasingly divided over the issues of war, national security the like.

By the way, Tony Blair gets barely a mention in the film, that would seem to be a mistake givenhis unstinted support for the war effort and his friendship with Bush, were it not for the fact that Moore has said that his next film is going to be about Blair and the U.K. involvement with the U.S. and the war--now that should be interesting.