Summer Movie Mania Week 7 1/2

This week gets a '1/2' designation only because I plan on seeing another movie this weekend, and this is a rather late viewing.

Yesterday evening, we had an overdue viewing of Michael Moore's latest documentary Fahrenheit 9/11. Steeped in controversy, this anti-presidential diatribe paints a grim picture of our country and its policies after the tragedies of September 11, 2001. Mr. Moore uses recent footage of our President, public documentation, and his own domestic and overseas footage to argue his case that our country would be much better off without George W. Bush as our leader. Whether or not one will agree with Mr. Moore will most definitely depend on their political views, because in my opinion, the country is too polarized for there to be a consensus on anything.

There were some good points that Mr. Moore raised, and although a few were quite obvious, he was quite belligerent with his presentation. A public beheading, the burnt corpse of a baby, and graphic images of combat are only a few of the gruesome images littered throughout. Disturbing? Yes. Effective? Sure.

I do take issue with a few of his contentions. Although I won't mention them, I will say that his argument can always be interpreted a number of ways, and I would have preferred he left more items open rather than him say what our conclusions should be. The thing I took away from the movie though, was that this was not as much a documentary as it was a filmic essay. There was his thesis (Bush bad), his supporting arguments (dependence on Saudi Arabian money, the greed for oil, and the desire to unseat Saddam), and his conclusion (Bush bad) all presented sequentially and strongly.

Ultimately, I believe Mr. Moore's film accomplishes its goals and smeared mud all over the Conservative regime in the White House. The best bet, however, on deciding who to vote for lies within your own research, and if it takes one item for you to decide who to elect, I wouldn't be surprised if it was Fahrenheit.

Overall Score: 3.5 out of 5 stars