Fahrenheit 9/11

[selenak]

Fahrenheit 9/11 started in Germany last Thursday, and so yesterday I finally saw it, together with the Aged Parents. As there have been already hundreds of reviews, both pro and con, I’m going to concentrate on something which I don’t think has been pointed out yet so much.

Believe it or not, this movie actually awakens sympathy for Americans abroad. See, chances are that most people watching it in Europe are already convinced the Iraq War never was about weapons of mass destruction or liberating the Iraqi people, and they never thought of Bush as anything but a none-too bright walking, talking assembly of the worst assembly of anti-American clichés you could find. Also, the Bush dynasty being in bed with the Saudis isn’t news, either (nor unique to the Bush clan, or Republicans, or indeed Americans).

However, what people here aren’t widely aware of anymore are ordinary American people and the terrible circumstances they can be in. You get the high tech bombings of Baghdad in the news, you get the “embedded” stuff of patriotic pronouncements by soldiers, you get the ghastly Abu Ghraib pictures. What you don’t get is what Moore shows in his film – areas of unemployment looking every bit as poor and run down as the pre-war Baghdad footage he used, with the army being the only way out, soldiers in hospitals with missing limbs and twitchy faces who will never recover again, and, most poignantly, the families of dead soldiers. It has already been said but it bears repeating – the scenes with Lila Lipscomb, patriotic mother of a military family who never lets the flag she puts out touch the earth because it would be disrespectful, going from supporting the war to crying for her dead son and the futility of it all, are easily the most powerful and devastating of the movie. (More about her here.) They also form a kind of reply to an earlier scene where we see an Iraqi woman after a bombing crying with equal rage and despair, asking “why?” and calling on Allah. After the film was over, I listened to the people talking. One woman said “those poor people”, and she wasn’t referring only to the Iraquis. She meant the Americans as well. A lot of viewers remarked on the pity and sympathy they felt for the American people now, and how this was the other face of the US, as opposed to the one Bush and Rumsfeld showed.

Scattered additional thoughts:
- this is easily the most restrained of Moore’s movies, but it still could have used some snipping; the stunt with the Congressmen being asked to enlist their kids was superfluos, especially since the point about rich and poor was already made
- otoh, not using the familiar 9/11 footage of the planes crashing into the towers but instead going for audio only, with a black screen, and then footage of the stunned and grieving people in the streets was inspired and helped to counter any sensation of overexposure; it felt as horrible as when it happened.

Comments

[illmantrim.livejournal.com]

nice to hear the viewpoint of someone living outside the USA and with a mind and heart that one can understand. Thank you for giving us your view of this.

[altariel.livejournal.com]

the stunt with the Congressmen being asked to enlist their kids was superfluos, especially since the point about rich and poor was already made

This is one reason I haven't (yet) been to see this film: I don't like this kind of stunt, and it was perhaps the main reason I turned off Bowling for Columbine. I hate to feel manipulated, by a director or a writer - do you think I should skip this film and keep on just reading reviews and reactions to it?

[shezan.livejournal.com]

what people here aren’t widely aware of anymore are ordinary American people

You realise that if you wrote this about any Third World country, you'd be called a racist in five seconds flat?

[merkuria-lyn.livejournal.com]

Interesting thoughts - thanks for the review.

I still haven't seen the film but am hoping to get round to it next week or so...

[bubosquared.livejournal.com]

Also, the Bush dynasty being in bed with the Saudis isn’t news, either

Ew?

I haven't been to see the movie yet, and with everyone being rather strongly divided on the movie (love it or hate it, it seems), I didn't know that I should (if nothing else, more strong emotions are the last thing I need right now), but after reading this, I think I might. Or I'll wait for it to come out on DVD or tape.

[artaxastra.livejournal.com]

I'm not understanding the comments about this post being racist or prejudiced. First of all, American isn't a race. As an American, I can safely say that we have many different racial, cultural, ethnic, and religious divisions that make it practically impossible to make any generalization that truly applies to all Americans. But I don't think you're doing that.

As I understand it, you're talking about the image of Americans in other parts of the world. Of course that's based on prejudice. We all prejudge things we know less about based on what we do know, sometimes with a negative, sometimes with a positive. We've seen a heartwarming movie about Australia, so we form the impression that Australians are wonderful, warm, generous people. We've seen six James Bond movies, and we've formed the impression that all Russians are idiots and couldn't screw in a light bulb.

The key is to realize what our prejudices are. All Australians aren't warm loving grandmothers. Some are. Many aren't. All Russians aren't bumbling idiots with bad accents. Some might be. Most aren't. I think it's worth noting if a movie challenges our preconceptions. And to say that it does isn't racist or prejudiced -- it's a mature observation of the human foible of overgeneralizing.

[par-avion.livejournal.com]

Thanks for your comments on the film.

Although LJ started primarily as a fandom thing for me, I've come to value the international and ex-pat POVs that pop up on my flist.

[cgallivan.livejournal.com]

I can link you to at least three sites that point out Moore's lies. Don't go to this movie thinking you'll see anything truthfull.

He is a liar. He edits heavily to prove his point. He is a liar. I can't say it enough.

I can't stand the fact that this guy was able to get away with this farce of a movie.

[neuralclone.livejournal.com]

It opened on Thursday in Australia too; I went to see it on Friday. I could hear people sobbing around me in the dark when they showed the scenes with Lila Lipscombe, and it was a very subdued audience who left afterwards.

(An aside - I hope this movie has some effect on Australian politics - John Howard our PM has got us in rather deep with the Bush administration, and I want people to see what he signed us up for. We're having a federal election later this year...)