Fahrenheit 9/11
FAHRENHEIT 9/11
OPTIMUM RELEASING
RELEASED 9 July 2004
Could a movie really become influential in the 2004 US Presidential election? This is what director Michael Moore (Bowling for Columbine) desperately hoped for, and he nearly got his wish. It’s difficult to see how any American voted for George W. Bush again after seeing ‘Fahrenheit 9/11’
Winner of the Palme d’Or at Cannes, ‘Fahrenheit 9/11’ takes us from the events of 9/11 to the current unrest in Iraq. After the horrific massacre in New York, questions are asked why the US-based Bin Laden family were flown out two days later on special flights and not held for questioning. There are also the strong financial links between the Bush family, the Bin Ladens, and the Saudi nation. It is insinuated that Bush actually had some hand in the disaster, though there is no evidence to back this up. Invading Afganistan is America’s next move, although Osama Bin Laden still remains at large, which is explained by Saudi Arabia’s huge financial stake in the US (quoted at over 800 billion dollars). President Bush is next shown turning world attention to Iraq, his real target all along. Remember, Daddy failed to topple the dictator Saddam Hussein, so who better than Junior to finish the job? Along with various allies (though the UK, Spain, and Italy are not mentioned), America invades Iraq and conquers their enemy. But WMDs are still no closer to being found – the reason the coalition entered Iraq.
‘Fahrenheit 9/11′ is severely one-sided and often unfocused. Facts are thrown about with no facts to back them up. Outrageous claims are made but taken no further. For a documentary, ‘Fahrenheit 9/11′ often clearly lies. Footage of happy familes and children on bicycles in Bagdahd before the bombs drop is plainly outrageous, failing to acknowledge the existence of the sadistic Ba’athist regime and it’s campaign of torture and murder. A point raised in ‘Bowling for Columbine’ is also raised again here, the interesting notion of how America keeps its citizens under control by careful use of fear, from putting small towns on alert after intercepting ‘suspicious’ words over radio frequencies (which could actually be about anything or even a different word entirely) and the threat of WMDs. For all ‘Fahrenheit 9/11′s faults, the first half of the film is very entertainly edited together, portraying the US government as a bunch of half-wits, and the moment we move to the invasion of Iraq, the reality of war on both sides is graphically shown. Be in no doubt, you will know the terror of urban warfare after seeing this. American Lila Lipscomb becomes the star of the film’s final section, going from patriotic diehard to angry peacenik after her son is killed in Iraq. She wants to know why, and what for, as do we all. Her tears sum up the horrible futility of the situation. Troops in Iraq openly question what the hell they’re doing there!
‘Fahrenheit 9/11′ is solely aimed at removing an incompetent US President. Any man who can talk of catching terrorists responsible for the murder of nearly 3,000 innocent civilians, and then boast about his golf drive in the same breath, does not possess the humanity to lead the most powerful country in the world. Any man told of two planes hitting the World Trade Towers and then reading the children’s book ‘My Pet Goat’ for the next ten minutes does not have the intelligence to lead the USA.
FOUR OUT OF FIVE
