(aka "Fahrenheit 911" )
directed
by Michael Moore
USA 2004
“The people will believe any lie, if only they are repeated
often enough, and the bigger the lie, the better chance it being believed.”
(Joseph Goebbels)
At 8:45am, a hijacked plane torpedoed the north tower of the World Trade
Centre. At 9:03am, a second hijacked plane, did the same in the south tower.
One hour later, the towers collapsed. This happened on September 11, 2001.
More things happened that day. At 9:30am, half an hour after the second
attack, Bush announced, that the US “apparently had suffered a terrorist
attack”. The FAA instantly ground all flight operations and business and
government and corperation internet sites closed down. Yet the FBI was quiet.
During the 1993 bombing of the WTC, the FBI posted a $1 million reward one
hour after the bombing, after September 11, the FBI did no such thing. Perhaps
it was because the FBI already knew who did it, as they in their security
brief of July 10, 2001, wrote, that Al Qaeda had been sending students to the
US to train in aviation and that they planned a terrorist attack on American
soil. Bush never read this brief, because, as we learn in “Fahrenheit 9/11”,
the title was “too weak”.
Not surprising, the amount of secrecy and unanswered questions that followed
September 11 has lead to countless accusations and conspiracy theories.
Several books has been written on the subject and as late as September 11
2004, Kitano Takeshi lead a panel discussion, where he argued the parallels
between Pearl Harbour and the WTC attack. The urge to understand such a
horrible event promotes the need for answers, any answer, as long as we
therein find reason.
In Michael Moore’s “Fahrenheit 9/11”, he attempts, not to find reason for the
attack, but more, why certain things following the attack happened and why it
all lead to an invasion of Iraq, which Kofi Annan recently stated was illegal,
as it went against UN resolution 1441. Moore paints with the big brush of
satire, beginning his film with an account of the Florida election, then
showing Bush going on vacation for 42% of the eight months before September
11. Very wisely he does not show the attack itself, but blackens the screen,
then to continue building up his side of why the war in Iraq happened.
Moore has never given the impression of being a master film maker. While all
his documentaries are great fun to watch, and raises several interesting
questions, he has always, despite being very shy, loved to be on the spot, in
the spotlight, posing as the crusader of truth and justice. But with
“Fahrenheit 9/11”, Moore enters the world of “real” filmmakers and
documetarists. The first hour of “Fahrenheit 9/11” is the best work Moore ever
has done, extremely well researched, very tightly constructed and very
entertaining.
It is surprising how toned down Moore is here. Where he usually goes over the
edge, he holds back on speculations, and very carefully builds up his point of
view to what is going on. It could have been very easy to portrait Bush as
someone, who over a year, wilfully lied again and again to defend the war,
only juxtaposing 2001 statements, that Iraq had “no weapons of mass
destruction” and “no military capabilities” vs. 2003 statements, that Iraq had
advanced systems of WMD. While one, by reading up on the news and White House
statements can see, how the lie carefully was constructed from “coulds” and
“possible” (August 2002) to that the president had intelligence reports
telling him that there “actual were” WMD (March 2003), even though the same
intelligence leaked information and suggested that Bush’s statements were
"highly dubious" [Washington Post, 7/19/03], Moore plots his attacks out with
a broader coverage. Instead of going into details about the cover up and
deception, Moore goes into detail about why (possible) it was done, showing
how relationships formed over the last twenty years now have been moved into
position, as in a geopolitical game of chess. Of course this point of view was
attacked from numerous sources, but Moore stands by his accounts of the events
and has several times stated, that he is more than willing to go before a
court proving them.
The second hour of “Fahrenheit 9/11” is less structured and more up the alley
of Moore’s previous work. Here he shows what September 11 has done to the US,
for instance the “Patriot Act”, and how the war affects the average low-income
American. Here Moore steps more into character as we know him. This part is
less solid than the first, but still supports some of the themes the first
half sets up.
It is clear that Moore has become more skilled by each film he makes, yet I
doubt that he will top this one. Where the subjects of his previous films has
been “limited”, all his films deal with how big corporations (ab)use the
common American, and no subject is as confronting as the events following
September 11 or the war in Iraq.
Winning the Palme d’Or as best film, “Fahrenheit 9/11” was instantly attacked
and speculations of conspiracy were aired. Several critics and professionals
suggested that a documentary wasn’t “a real film” and that Tarantino had
“convinced” the jury members to vote the way he wanted. But “Fahrenheit 9/11”
is a real film and as the jury stressed in their press conference, the best
film won.
What makes “Fahrenheit 9/11” such a great film is that it dares to do what it
does. Along with “Control Room”, which is a better documentary, it sets an
agenda, by which we can weigh our convictions, doubts, suspicions and truths.
It gives us information, suggests relationships and hidden agenda and directly
questions the actions of the most powerful nation in the world, thereby
creating an as equal strong opposition to what the White House is telling us.
We can accept them, deny them or doubt them, but as we are confronted with
them, Moore asks us to take a stand. This is cinema and documentary at its
best.
Posters
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Theatrical Release: May 17, 2004 (Cannes Film Festival)
Reviews More Reviews DVD Reviews
DVD Review: Optimum Home Entertainment (2 disc) - Region 2 - PAL
Big thanks to Henrik Sylow for the Review!
DVD Box Cover |
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CLICK to order from: or CLICK LOGO below and buy the US Edition (Oct 5th-release): NOTE: Purchases through DVDBeaver's links to Amazon help keep us afloat and advertisement free! |
Distribution |
Optimum Home Entertainment Region 2 - PAL |
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Runtime | 2:02:17 | |
Video |
1.78:1 Original Aspect Ratio
16X9 enhanced |
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NOTE: The Vertical axis represents the bits transferred per second. The Horizontal is the time in minutes. |
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Bitrate |
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Audio | 2.0 Dolby Digital English, 5.1 Dolby Digital English | |
Subtitles | English, None | |
Features |
Release Information: Studio: Optimum Home Entertainment Aspect Ratio:
Edition Details: Chapters 16 |
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Comments |
This is a dual DVD edition,
with the feature film on disc one and additional material on disc two.
Nothing much is to be said about the presentation itself. Where most of it
is footage, the quality varies a great deal, but the by Moore shot footage
is crisp and sharp. Likewise the sound is as one can expect. Considering this being one of the most talked about releases of 2004, the additional material is extraordinary weak. Out of 104 minutes of material, about half is really good and supports the film. I really miss a “Making of”, where Moore goes into detail about his sources, his strategy and his structuring of the documentary. The film has been attacked from so many groups, that putting himself in the hot seat and answering some of the many questions viewers may have, would have been a most valuable asset for the film. Especially the eyewitness account from Samara and the Arab American comedians are great material, as they add a different perspective to the situation. But then very Moore-ish commentary as the John Ashcroft karaoke and the career gear seems only to be there to fill out. In any case, this is not the sort of material I would except from a film like that, but it is what I would expect from Moore. * A note towards the running time. Sources name 122 minutes as the running time, which also is the one on this PAL DVD. Therefor have I noted, there is no PAL Speed-Up. Why, I cannot account for. |
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DVD Box Cover |
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CLICK to order from: or CLICK LOGO below and buy the US Edition (Oct 5th- 04 release): NOTE: Purchases through DVDBeaver's links to Amazon help keep us afloat and advertisement free! |
Distribution |
Optimum Home Entertainment Region 2 - PAL |