Went to “choir practice” Saturday.
Say what you want about Michael Moore, he has a way with editing, and a wicked sense of humor, and knows how to rivet an audience.
Yes, it is slanted, yes, it is manipulative but it is also a very strong argument against the current war and administration. Let’s put that aside, because that is all anyone is talking about.
What I found interesting about Fahrenheit 9/11 was the structure of the story telling and how he managed to anger me, make me laugh, shake my head in bewilderment and eventually move me to tears.
Starting with the scenes of the Cabinet readying them selves for the camera, “Let’s put on our TV faces, we’ve got to look pretty or they won’t believe us.”
THE BIG PICTURE…The White House, the Saudis the Billions of dollars… that is what it is all about, Moore seems to be saying. “At any cost.”
THE AGENDA…start a war, scare the people, keep them confused, muddy up the waters and we can do anything we want.
THE TOOLS…we then are shown the realities of the front lines: the innocent victims, the disgruntled soldiers, and the destroyed villages. This is powerful.
Then Moore makes his move. He had introduced us to the Flint woman who was so proud of her country and her children in the military. She put her flag out every day with the greatest respect, taught her children that the government would supply them with the great life she could not afford to give them, encouraging them to enlist. When this woman’s son is killed in Iraq, Moore takes us into America's living room, the soul of this woman and her family and we feel their pain. The scene of her sobbing in front of the White House brings the film full circle. Here is where it all started and here is where it ends. He zooms from the big picture right down into the heart of the American people to say, “Was this War worth it?”
Slanted propaganda? Perhaps. Brilliant filmmaking? Absolutely.
PEACE.