film: fahrenheit 911

[Benefit]

It was a good, entertaining movie. Michael Moore is fucking hilarious; driving around in that ice cream van reading the Patriot Act reminded me of his antics on his old show TV Nation... vintage Moore. Whether you agree with him or not, he's a funny dude.

None of the stuff in the movie is too groundbreaking though. Yeah, war is ugly but anyone with half a brain should know this. And yes, of course Washington politics are always going to be bogged down by shady business ties and unscrupulous foreign investors. Yes, war can be immensely profitable for certain industries. I mean, all this stuff is common knowledge to anyone with even a cursory knowledge of international politics and world history.

I was surprised by the amount of older, middle aged people who left the theater shaking their heads and muttering, "What an eye-opener." Where were these people during Vietnam? Did they not know that civilians die in war, and that mothers lose their sons? Any time you commit to a war, these are the inevitable consequences. It just frightens me how many people got behind this war (or at least supported it by being passive) last year without any clear conception of what this process would actually entail. It's really mind-boggling.

 

[LapDawg]

Is it signed by a senator? :D

 

[DigitalDuality]

I don't care if it's signed by a Senator.

--Sidenote: Man that must've been hard for Gore to do...

 

[Shucklak]

Anyway, the movie is obvious bullshiit. Stuff I noticed:

anything politically charged is bullshit.

hell, the government as known by the average citizen is nothing but a heap of lies and agendas and more lies.

it does make me angry how moore tries to take the moral high ground in all his movies, and pretends to let facts speak for themselves, but is really being less than truthful in many instances.....

but i also hate bush and his administration, so i was glad to see someone stick it to him.....

*walks away confused*

 

[DigitalDuality]

^
wow.. you're back?

 

[Shucklak]

tentatively anyway........

 

[beatbeat]

I was surprised by the amount of older, middle aged people who left the theater shaking their heads and muttering, "What an eye-opener." Where were these people during Vietnam? Did they not know that civilians die in war, and that mothers lose their sons? Any time you commit to a war, these are the inevitable consequences. It just frightens me how many people got behind this war (or at least supported it by being passive) last year without any clear conception of what this process would actually entail.

Well, I think the nature of the beast is that even if we "know" that war is hell, etc., it's different being confronted by the actual images. And that's part of the power of the film. A lot of people have been saying we don't need to see that stuff to recognize the evil of war. But we do need to see it, and even if we've seen it before, we need to be reminded from time to time because in the intervening lulls, we forget.

But what kind of amazes me still though was that soldier's mother...I felt bad for her and all, but part of me is like what did she think might happen if her kid enlisted in the army? Didn't she realize there was a good chance of him being killed? And further, didn't she think about the fact that even if he didn't get killed, he was being shipped off to possibly kill some other mother's son? I guess Desert Storm made her think war was Disneyland or something....

 

[MynameisnotDeja]

I saw this movie last night and thought it was awesome.
Every American should see this movie, no matter what side you are on.

 

[alasdairm]

rate this movie

alasdair

 

[Dr. McBudstoke]

there is no question about the fact that michael moore is extremely biased. however, he is also very entertaining, hence why I saw the movie.

 

[dyscotopia]

i saw the movie and liked it, but after all the hype it was vaguely disappointing. i'd seen a lot of it before release and so much of the best stuff was in the clips and the trailers. not to mention that all of the more "shocking revelations" in the film have already been the subject of numerous canadian news reports and investigative reports.

moore's strength should be seen in his ability to encourage debate and bring a sense of humour to genuinely sad, distressing events, not in his being "fair" or "balanced." he is a showmen adept at providing entertaining antidotes to rightwing hypocrisy and posturing.

obviously, the movie has succeeded brilliantly based on the first criteria of generating intense debate. however, despite all the funny bush-isms and moore's attempt to be more accurate and establish more distance than in bfc, it's still blindingly obvious that the film so closely aligns itself with a particular cause.

and though i support that cause 100%, i find this affiliation blunts the value of the film as an example of film-making.

i still think it's an important film undoubtedly worth seeing that has several bits that are surprising, moving, and occasionally overwhelming. but moore's previous films, regardless of your opinon on their accuracy, seem more personal and less dogmatic.

i dig the dogma, and yeah, it deserved it's award at cannes, but it's still probably his creatively weakest work since the wonderfully clever but pointlessly episodic "big one." the point just ends up being so obvious.

nevertheless, even this was probably a calculated choice designed to render the movie more accesible, by not allowing any ambiguity to confuse audiences as to the message.

 

[L2R]

Its all good.

Just saw it and thought it was a great film. Although i've been aware of 95% of what was claimed prior to seeing the film, having it all together with so much war/campaign footage made me feel sick to my stomach with disgust.

I have full respect for Moore's filmaking style because it works. 90% of the western filmgoing public are complete fucking morons who need their hands held as the narrative takes them to a point. Who else are blockbusters made for and why do they make so much money?

If Moore showed all sides of the coins he tosses, his films would be 10 times longer, or span a tiny fraction of topics and most of the audience would not know what to think and therefore discussion would not be stimulated, his films wouldn't be as controversial and as popular, and then neither he nor his investors would make as much money.

I wholeheartedly agree with what i understand as the "moral to the story" to both "Bowling For Columbine" and "Fahrenheit 911":
Question what you are told by all mass media.
I also take "all mass media" to include Moore's work of course.

 

[wanderlust]

in the july 12th edition of time magazine, with his pretty face on the cover... moore offers a 10,000$ reward for anyone that can find and prove a fact wrong in this movie

 

[DigitalDuality]

::yawn::

 

[DigitalDuality]

^
I know.. and you're post debunking and expanding on F 9/11 is pretty accurate.. just joking in reference to your response in CE+P

 

[randycaver]

I found that all to be quite interesting. DD, if all you can come up with as a response is yawn, that says something

 

[DigitalDuality]

lol

 

[cravNbeets]

im w/ benefit in regards to the "oh what an eye opener" type of reactions. i laughed myself silly throughout this movie. shrubbya is certainly a satirist's dream. you couldnt make up some of the stuff that comes outta his mouth. the last scene of bush trying to remember the "fool me once shame on you..." cliche. hillarious

re: the mother of the fallen solider

a) yawn

b) classless (typical of moore btw)

3) contrived as all hell

that part of the movie could've very easily been edited out and i'd have been a lot happier.

all in all i enjoyed it but it certainly didnt rock my world

 

[cravNbeets]

i think you should have to see the movie b4 you post in this thread again

 

[keystroke]

^ I agree with that, all these people bagging the movie and moore without even watching the movie itself..


that is just ignorance in itself....