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By
WAYNE KLEIN
Although you can argue about
the political motivations of Michael Moore (just
as you can argue about the political motivations
of any of the major networks), Moore brings up
compelling evidence that President George W. Bush
could have helped prevent the tragedy of 9/11.
Beginning with Moore's observation that Bush made
off with the election, Moore points his finger at
Bush's financial connections, incompetence as a
leader, dishonesty and money as all contributing
to the occurrence of 9/11.
I'm oversimplifying the conjecture and conclusions
of Moore's film, but his film is as patriotic and
passionate as any of Bush's defenders. We live
with an imperfect political system but Moore's
damning evidence suggests that the incestuous
relationship between business and our political
system brought us down on 9/11 as much as Bin
Laden. So I think it's fair to say that Michael
Moore has a right to express his own political
agenda, even if the documentary form has always
been one that begins with a bias or belief and
then comes up with the evidence that supports its
premise. Unfortunately, both the best and worst
documentaries (and "Fahrenheit 9/11" represents
both extremes) sometimes find more than a kernel
of truth at the core of their story. Whether you
like "Fahrenheit 9/11" depends upon whether you
believe Moore's evidence. It's pretty one-sided --
but it's also pretty damn compelling.
Image quality varies a bit since so much of the
footage is drawn from news footage, archival film
and videotape footage shot before, during and
after the attack of 9/11. The fact that this is a
high definition transfer means that the flaw of
the videotape footage becomes much more pronounced
than it might otherwise. On the other hand, the
footage shot for the movie looks spectacular. The
5.1 Surround Sound isn't really used as
effectively as it could be but, then again, this
isn't "Alien vs. Predator."
Moore has slathered on additional extras for this
release. We get more damning evidence of the
involvement of the Bush administration's
involvement in trying to cover up evidence of the
business relationship that helped contributed to
our loss on 9/11. We get a fascinating featurette
that discusses the release of "Fahrenheit 9/11."
Also, there's a montage on the eve of the invasion
of Iraq. There's footage shot outside Abu Ghraib
prison where the recent mistreatment of Iraq
prisoners of war occurred.
Regardless of your political position on Bush,
Kerry or anyone else, this election year is being
driven by a variety of documentaries with their
own agendas. "9/11" deserves to be seen just as
much as any of the other political films. The
effect of "9/11," like the tragic events of that
day, will not be soon forgotten. Unfortunately,
our vulture-like political candidates will
continue to make this tragic event into ammunition
for their own needs. |
