Caught Moore's movie the other night. While my erstwhile colleague thinks Moore and the movie are wack, I have a very different perspective.
First things first. I didn't like the movie that much. I'll buy it on DVD, and still think that my daughter should see it...but a lot of it left me flat. I would've preferred that Moore focus more on Florida and the last election. Obviously doing this would've meant much less time focusing on the meat and gristle of war, but the audience needs to see that the way Bush conducts his foreign policy is the way he (and his staff) conducts domestic policy.
Now when Cobb says the movie is off, I'm at a loss. No film is perfect obviously, but I didn't see that many errors. Moore fudges a bit--note that neither Kerry nor Edwards nor Leiberman (all DNC Presidential candidates) signed the CBC's petition. And his interpretation of the facts may be wrong (I'm not sure that money drove Bush's desire to attack Hussein, nor were his contacts with Saudi Arabia responsible). Perhaps this is enough though.
What really got me about the movie was the response to it. I barely got a ticket, as the movie was continuously sold out of the two simultaneous showings run during the day. I went to a MoveOn event afterwards and there were some 250 people there. This election is going to be interesting.
When I skipped The Passion, while still commenting on it, I think I was able to get away with it largely because my critique was a meta-critique. It wasn't about the performances...nor even about the story per se...but rather about the color of the actors. I only need to know that few black people were used to be able to legitimately criticize it.
In this case? I think you probably will dislike it. I didn't like it as much as I thought it would. But you do need to go see it. In print I think Moore only differs from Coulter in ideological predisposition. On the screen? Moore is very different.
This movie is a portrayal of the news that we never get on the network and cable news channels. Moore's perspective is that of us who sit in front of our TVs and wonder why the newsfaces are throwing softball questions at Colin Powell, Bush, and Rice and only look at the surface of deep issues. Moore at least raises these questions. We might not always agree with his answers, but the popularity of Fahrenheit 9/11 stems from him at least asking and attempting to answer them.
Posted by: Ahmad Rahman at July 9, 2004 08:18 AM
I was going to go see it last night, but I chose Spiderman instead. I suppose I owe it a look see, but I know I'm going to hate it.
Posted by: Cobb at July 3, 2004 10:55 AM