“Printing Labels”

So I can barely stay awake at work today as a result of going to see Fahrenheit 9/11 last night. I was surprised and impressed. I honestly didn’t expect much. Prior to seeing the film I knew it preached to the choir but wanted to see it anyway. Finally, someone was preaching to my choir. Thanks network news for neglecting the flock.

Let me put my criticisms of the film up front. First, the film seems to link the House of Saud, the Bush monarchy, and a variety of corporate interests to the events of 9/11 without entirely explaining how. The technique seems to work in the same way as the Bush administration manufactures fear (the film later addresses this as well). This is not to say that there wasn’t some connection, but the film doesn’t go much farther than stating that everybody was rich, friends and getting a whole lot richer. Maybe there wasn’t more too it than that, hopefully there wasn’t. In the end though, complacency that leads to such events seems to be as great a crime.

Secondly, the film portrays the USA PATRIOT ACT in a comical light. While the sequences and stories are amusing, Moore doesn’t fully convey the depths and concerns that opponents of the Act have. The Act is a quite complicated piece of legislation that takes a fine comb tooth to unravel. But that does not mean that one of the most controversial and far reaching pieces of legislation this country has ever seen deserves such shallow treatment in a film of this depth.

The final criticism is the ambiguity running throughout the film that at times is downright contradictory. Are the soldiers stationed in Iraq and Afghanistan, racist, sadistic hooligans, or are they free-thinking, thoughtful, and sensitive individuals who are merely doing their job? Is airport screening that makes a woman drink her own breast-milk yet allows 3 books of matches and 2 lighters per person really in the clutches of big tobacco or just another example of government agencies at work. On a side note, aren’t Republicans all against “big government” and deficit spending? Sorry for the digression.

Every one should see this movie, check their politics at the door and watch it in a most skeptical manner. It really should be criminal to allow others to do your thinking for you and hopefully Moore’s expert lens and at times comical narration don’t coerce the audience into committing such a sin.

The images of the film speak for themselves and will resonate differently for different audiences. Their collective strength is the voice of Moore’s movie and its unmistakable message: the aggression perpetrated by the United States against Iraq was wholly unnecessary. The human cost on both sides of the conflict is represented by images of unbridled grief and the brutal horror of the physical effects of war. While the rest of the world’s media is free to report such images, the beacon of freedom in the world that the terrorists so abhor, is not.

The evil portrayed in the movie is well spoken for and it is here where some of Moore’s brilliance shines. Corporate and individual greed is the star actor in this role. Moore masterfully intertwines images, statements, interviews and promotional materials to illustrate why intervention in Iraq was necessary: money. The refreshing thing that Moore does well is that he does not focus solely on US led (read, white) interests. He also shows Arab businessmen chomping at the bit to get a piece of the action. Economic imperialism without fail follows nations’ quest to be the global hegemon—Iraq is merely an example of the voracious, unchecked appetite of the existing hegemonic power. The dorky executive giddy with anticipation said it best, “good for business, bad for the people.”