manalang

After watching Fahrenheit 9/11 this past weekend, I was motivated to post my thoughts about the film. However, since there’s so much buzz about this film everywhere, I’ve decided to post some excerpts of wonderful reviews and critiques I’ve read since the movie opened.

By far the best review I’ve read about Fahrenheit 9/11 has been Jason Godesky’s critique of Christopher Hitchen’s Slate article entitled “UnFahrenheit 9/11:”

“Many criticize Moore for providing no solutions; do these critics really expect one man, one film, to solve all the world’s problems? Without the right questions, we can never have the right answers; critical questioning forces us to refine our thoughts and ideas, challenges us to defend what we believe, and can sometimes expose fallacies in our thinking before they become disastrous. This is what Moore does; this is the obvious goal of Fahrenheit 9/11; not to provide some grand solution to one of the greatest, most complicated problems Western civilization has ever faced, but to ask the questions that will change the way we think about these things. So long as we actually believe in the two-dimensional cardboard cutouts of good and evil — rather than two complicated sides, both with complicated people pursuing real (and even laudable) goals — the “War on Terra” is doomed to failure. To date, very few have been asking questions; we have acted as sheep. We have done as we have been told. Our ignorance has been staggering.”

My personal beef with the film had to do with the credibility of some of the “facts” presented. There are an infinite number of ways to interpret history. Michael Moore’s alternate history of the past four years left me in bewilderment until I read this from a New York Times article entitled “Michael Moore Is Ready for His Close-Up:”

“Mr. Moore is readying for a conservative counterattack, saying he has created a political-style “war room” to offer an instant response to any assault on the film’s credibility. He has retained Chris Lehane, a Democratic Party strategist known as a master of the black art of “oppo,” or opposition research, used to discredit detractors. He also hired outside fact-checkers, led by a former general counsel of The New Yorker and a veteran member of that magazine’s legendary fact-checking team, to vet the film. And he is threatening to go one step further, saying he has consulted with lawyers who can bring defamation suits against anyone who maligns the film or damages his reputation.”

Personally, I think the movie is a must-see for any American citizen regardless of their political affiliation. It bothers me to see people who have slandered the movie without watching it. Regardless of how you feel about Michael Moore or how far right you lean, I think it’s an important film that raises a lot of valid questions about the people who run our country, Republicans and Democrats alike.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, June 29th, 2004 at 1:41 PM PDT and is tagged with politics. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.