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July 8, 2004 review
Sorry Bob, but you can't win, you must vote after seeing the movie....
Subjects > Entertainment (Search)
From one of my dear friends:
Eeeeek.... I had to look up "Palme D'or" to figure out if you were being sarcastic...... Of course the French loved it, they are not big fans of us anyhow..... Important perhaps, but wonderful? I dunno..... Thanks for inviting me to write the following review of the movie, I went to see it two days ago....
According to www.moorewatch.com:
Le Monde said the film more closely resembles propaganda, and it carried a separate article to separate “truths” from “errors” in the film.
I listen to the radio, and I had not heard anyone say anything good about the movie. Even the people who dislike Bush didn't seem to like this movie. I really didn't want to enrich Moore, but a Bulgarian friend talked me into going to see it. He had a pirate video copy of it. I would have gladly watched a pirate copy, but he wouldn't send me his. He said he'd go see it if he were me. But he's not me. I have to spend at least $6, he didn't have to spend anything. Thats two or three meals at Taco Bell, serious money.... So I had to decide whether or not to spend real money. So to keep the damages slight, I decided to go to a matinee. Now if I get a pirate copy, at least my conscience will be clear that I did contribute something for this piece of, uh, um, entertainment......
My friend sent me some pro reviews. Without digging very hard, I found this review to rebut them: http://slate.msn.com/id/2102723/ This review confirmed a lot of what I'd heard, but does it in much greater detail. We continued to debate throughout the morning, he thinking, from Bulgaria, that good points were raised in the movie.
My feeling after reading all the pros and cons, and my friend's opinions, prior to going to see the movie, was that Moore wouldn't really change any minds. It'd be great for the people that already hate Bush, a real crowd pleaser. And the people who believe in what we've had to do in Iraq would probably still believe in it.
I was wary of the power of media, but decided to see if my beliefs could last through two hours of Moore's visual programming. Off to the matinee to part with my $6.25, and even more for popcorn and candy.
I ran a couple of minutes late, so I missed all the movie trailers at the start, and was afraid I'd miss the promised "explosive" beginning to the movie. I walked in to see titles rolling, and important people standing in front of the White House, putting spit in their unruly hair as they think they are off camera, getting ready for some kind of presentation. Not quite the movie beginning I was prepared for. Not sure what the point was... Perhaps just a little humor to soften the audience?
Let me say I wish I could find a screen play somewhere for this movie. It should be released in book form so that it would be more easy to rebut. Of course Michael Moore has not had the courage to release the film in this alternate form. Where is his concern for the disadvantaged who might night be able to physically hear or see his movie?
Note:October 2004: Three months later, Moore has finally released a book that is supposed to be the screen play, and including all kind of letters in favor of the movie. Will I buy the book? I wish I could avoid it. Maybe someone will be nice enough to get me one as a gift to see if they can change my mind with it.
From all that I've heard of Moore avoiding giving any interviews with anyone who might be critical of his venture, I am not surprised it is only in film form. I'd like to supply, In Michael Moore style, with a picture of him looking contemplative, a voice over with what I think maybe he was thinking about this: "Well, yeah, the blind and deaf are probably just as stupid as the average American. But do I want a written copy of my screen play to get into the hands of critics so they are able to better point out their disagreement with 'my version of the facts'. Sorry blind and deaf people, I've got an election to throw...."
As for Bush not jumping up from the classroom, and racing out to immediately deal with the crisis: If he had done this, here's the result:
Sorry, that's a damned for how long he waited, and a he'd be damned if he reacted any quicker, kind of thing. Not nice. And really, a minor point on which to try and make a whole movie.
The retired FBI agent who went on and on about detaining the whole Bin Laden family, instead of giving them a ticket back to Paradise, probably came the closest of anyone in the film to making a reasonable point about what proper police work might involve. But then again, on what basis to detain them? Seems like this would be an even more horrible invasion of rights than a sheriff deputy "infiltrating" a peace group under an assumed name. I am not sure that at the point the Bin Laden family left, a couple of days after 9/11, we really had any reason to take them hostage for future questioning. Michael, should we have instead flown them to Gitmo for safekeeping?
Moore's vignette about George Bush's early business history was semi-comical. But, so what? Was George supposed to sit around unemployed, and do nothing, until his first run for politician? We've all seen the kind of politicians we get when the only thing in their work history is being a politician. Give me a doctor, or a businessman, turned politican any day, over someone whose only qualification for office is a previous election.
And the Bin Ladens invested money 20 or 30 years ago in Bush's company, or in related companies... Again, what's the point? Was Bush supposed to have known 20 or 30 years ago that a member of the Bin Laden family would turn bad? Also, Michael Moore conveniently forgets throughout the film that investment often creates jobs for people in towns like Flint Michigan. I'm sure he could do a similar hatchet job against Japanese investment in America. When he's railing against big business being happy about the war because they'll make a profit while selling more tanks, remember there are people who work to build those tanks. People who work to make food to feed the troops, many of them probably pretty happy for the jobs that they have.
Chaney equals Haliburton. OK, everyone knew that before the film. But again, was Cheney supposed to sit around unemployed since whatever his previous government job was? Being a film-maker, or a welfare office worker, seem to be the only jobs that Moore resspects.
Moore continues railing against the big business expositions about how to profit from Iraq. Again, what is wrong with this? That Moore wasn't invited? Many people are thankful for an opportunity to go and trade being in harms way for a decent salary. And these businesses are supposed to be looking for an opportunity to turn a profit for their shareholders, some of whom may be those little old ladies sitting in the nursing home. BTW, Moore's interviewing little old ladies in a nursing home about big business was kind of funny. At least they finally got upset with the interruption and wanted to get back to their game of pinocle. Their assertations that risk free money was being handed to Haliburton, was actually pretty comical. Couldn't Moore find and interview a CEO of a disadvantaged business who was prepared to make a proveably better and cheaper bid to provide the same services? Little old ladies are probably more telegenic, and much easier to get in contact with. Michael, it would have been even more funny if they had been in a bingo hall in an Indian Casino, and your interview had interrupted one of them winning the bingo.
NOTE: Several people have pointed out that Haliburton passed a competitive bidding process to be on the list of companies that could be chosen from to do rebuilding projects like the one that is needed in Iraq.
As for tailing the Marine recruiters, and exposing what they were supposedly saying in their car as they decided to go and recruit, that was kind of comical. I'm surprised these recruiters went along with this. They were made out to look like Amway salesmen. I enjoyed watching them fooling a kid into thinking they won't contact him anymore if he gives his name, address, and phone number, and then the recruiter gloating about all the materials he'd be sending the kid. However, I thought they had more pride in the service than to be part of Moore's charade. Then again, the enlisted recruiters I've met didn't seem to be the most intelligent guys I've known, I'm glad some of them are recruiters instead of being in a foreign land endangering themselves or others, so maybe it was easy for Moore to convince them that his film would be good for recruitment.
But again, what's wrong with the opportunity of the military, especially for the kids in his home town? Moore trots out all kinds of people focused on the benefits, none on the responsibilities they signed up for, and of course he finds no one thankful for the opportunity.
Couldn't he have found one person who could say "Yeah, I was in the military, it was tough, I was sent over to some bad places. But I did my time, got out, and went and used the education money to go to a college that my family couldn't provide. Now I have a degree and a job I wouldn't have if it weren't for the opportunity the military gave me." There's not one person out there who could say that? "Wouldn't do at all to paint any of this as being any kind of positive opportunity for anyone" thought Michael when an interviewee started to say something positive about their military experience. "CUT!"
Michael, thanks so much for the state trooper in Oregon who was willing to share Oregon's law enforcement staffing levels with the whole nation who sees your film. And with those who hate the nation, too. Thanks for helping them discover which state with an ocean shore might be the easiest for them to knock off. What did the people of Oregon ever do to you, Michael, to deserve this? Did they vote for Bush or something? "Well, that would certainly be a crime worth punishing" thought Moore, as he gazed at the pristine unguarded Oregon shoreline. "Wonder if I could find a Florida trooper to claim there is an hour of the day when only half a dozen troopers are guarding the whole state of Florida..." he thought.
Moore points out about the terror alerts being so random that no one can really continue to stay on edge because of them. Good point, Michael, that was one part of your movie well done.
When he mentioned the Patriot Act infringing on people's security, I sat up in my seat. Some of the conservative talk show radio people I listen to actually seem to be for the Patriot Act, and it puzzles me. I'm for giving the police the tools the need, within the bounds of the Constitution, and I'm constantly amazed at things that seem, to a layman, to go way outside those bounds. Some of the talk show radio people deny that Patriot Act has caused anyone a problem at all, they challenge callers to call in with a real story, but of course none are ever put on their shows.
I've read of people having their bank accounts frozen because their spending patterns raise alarms with the new automatic data mining software the banks have been forced to install. Most of them get their accounts unlocked after they go and "answer a few questions". I've had run ins with over-zealous banks using the police to do their bidding long before Patriot Act, but now to have anonymous automatic software doing nasty and embarassing things to innocent people is really disturbing.
I've been pretty sure that the rough drafts of the Patriot Act were probably in existence long before 9/11, maye even before the Bush administration, and maybe even before the Clinton era.
So I sat up in my seat, hoping for something worth the price of admission. What did I get for examples of harm from the Patriot Act? A peace group infilitrated by a sheriff's deputy assigned to check them out, while using a false name. Huh? So what.... With all the random terror alerts that Moore points out the government issuing, was the local sheriff just supposed to ignore them and not watch the group, especially if some pointed to groups like that as being a possible refuge for terrorists? Seems like this could have been done well before Patriot Act. And why did the Peace Group care? That deputy might have been a secret republican, and maybe his exposure to them could have helped change his party affiliation.
The guy working out at the gym seemed a nice guy. But a random anonymous tip off to the police by his workout partners? Again, what does this have to do with Patriot Act? Anonymous tipoffs to the government against your family and neighbors has been something the government has been encouraging for at least the last 20 years. I imagine that today, with all the extra police, social workers, and other government agents, that an anonymous tipster here in America can enjoy a much greater response than anyone in the old KGB controlled Soviet Union could have expected to their tipoffs. I am well familiar with the family agony and destruction that can be caused by the government when they probe these anonymous tipoffs. Let me just quote an ex-policeman who know works with criminal defense lawyers defending innocent people wrongly accused by the government: "The police can tell you anything they want, if it will get you to say something that confirms the crime they are trying to prove. As a cop, one moment I can be your enemy, the next your best friend, whatever it takes to get you to incriminate yourself or someone else. There is no law that stops me from lying to you in casual conversation, if it helps me get my case proven."
What a let down. All of these things were going on well before Patriot Act.
And Mr. McDermot?Create|Search... Why didn't he get a screen credit at the start of the film? He was practically Michael's co-star. Who didn't know that these guys vote on things they haven't read. I'm surprised no one starts a movement to impeach them for not doing their jobs. My momma always said "Read it before you sign it", and this seems like a reasonable part of a congressperson's job too.
Jim Dermott is very animated when he talks about how the Patriot Act was "written in the middle of the night, printed in the middle of the night, delivered in the middle of the night." Makes congress sound either like it never sleeps, or like a bunch of Transylvanian vampires. Probably describes how he tries to get his favorite legislation through also. You know, that vampires connection, I should send that to Michael, he could make use of that in his next film.
Moore was possibly at his best with his candid camera shtick of pointing out to Congressmen that "Only one congressman has an >ENLISTED< child in the military." Actually, I was kind of horrified for the safety of the senators that it's apparently so easy for a nutcase with a camera crew to get so close to them. I suppose we can't force them to have armed body guards surrounding them whereever they go, but I thought Michael's shtick is a good example of why we should consider doing that...
But did you catch the key word in the phrase he kept repeating? Does anyone know how many Congressmen have sons and daugthers who are officers in the military? Does Michael think that doesn't matter? Let me supply Michaels thoughts on this as we show him gazing silently at the Capital building: "Hmmmm, I know there are some who have sons and daugthers who are officers, but that's just an example of classism, they have too much money, and put their kids through private schools and colleges just so they could avoid having to be enlisted as grunts. Besides, no officer is ever put in harms way the way the enlisted people are. Be more fun to corner the senators and demand they put more of their Yale educated children in the military as privates first class."
There are lies, damned lies, and then there are statistics. Glad Michael didn't stop with just damned lies.
So let's see, foreign investment in America is bad, they should like put their money in France, or Germany. Big business is bad because it makes profits under the control of corrupt political leaders, and it makes a profit while ruining his home town. And the military is a bad employment opportunity because it is also controlled by corrupt political leaders. And politicians are generally bad because they give their kids opportunities to keep them out of the ranks of enlisted canon fodder. What's left for the people in his bombed out looking home town? Oh yeah, be taken care of by the government and maybe work for the government in social services. Yeah....
Thanks Michael, but no thanks.... I think I'll take the world the way it is, warts and all, rather than the way you seem to want it to be.
What do you think of my review? Please go to this page Fahrenheit 9 11 Discussion and click on "Edit Text Of This Page" (down towards the bottom), to share your thoughts about Michael's movie or my review of it. Feel free to cut and paste whatever quotes you need from this page over to the discussion page. Thanks - Garnet (Search)
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