Review: Fahrenheit 9/11

From The BBC

The first thing that caught my eye about this article was the picture of some Marines talking to some potential recruits. The two Marines are white and the potential recruits are black. Is the BBC trying to send a message here? "Blacks fighting a white man's war"? The picture has this caption:

The film shows army recruiters in Moore's deprived hometown of Flint, Michigan

Army, Marine, what's the difference? Call an Army sergeant a jar head and find out!

The only thing deprived here is Moore himself. His message is that only poor and uneducated people join the military due to the lack of jobs. Everyone in the US military has to have a high school education to join and many have some higher learning. These people know the risks they are taking and many join out of patriotism.

[...]

But this is a Michael Moore film and, while that does not mean he is wrong, it must be watched with a critical eye.

Moore wants Bush removed from office.

He is determined to have this film released before the US presidential election in November for that very reason.

Those are all the reasons you need not to watch the film.

The film's conclusions are reached through a mixture of firm evidence, interesting information, moving scenes and tenuous theories.

Ever see a film critic squirm so much? He is trying hard not to say "there are no facts in this film".

Starting with the presidential election in 2000, it firmly plants the idea that Bush's election - thanks to just 537 votes in Florida - was not exactly free and fair.

"Firmly plants the idea" - not for me and seemingly not for the US Supreme Court. And from CNN we get this report:

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- A comprehensive study of the 2000 presidential election in Florida suggests that if the U.S. Supreme Court had allowed a statewide vote recount to proceed, Republican candidate George W. Bush would still have been elected president.

[...]

There is highly selective editing, but the story is not totally one-sided. For example, there are soldiers in Iraq who believe in their mission, as well as those who say they are disillusioned.

Not everyone in any organization is happy. The true test of the overall feelings in the military is the retention and re-enlistment rates. All of which are above the military's needs. That's right, the military have to turn some recruits away.

But the movie's conclusions - true or otherwise - and highly emotional interviews with bereaved parents and injured soldiers will have a big impact on audiences around the world.

Not if you don't watch this celluloid crap!