Thursday, July 01, 2004

And the verdict is in...

Well, I'm sure that the whopping three people who read this blog are waiting to read what I thought of Fahrenheit 9/11. And I've hesitated to say anything...because I don't think I'm smart enough to put into words even HALF of the things this film made me think and feel.

Conservatives and the Fox News Network are practically on fire, pointing out any inconsistency, "inaccuracy," and ambiguous statement they can find. Rumors abound that the conservatives are actually funding a movie to be titled "Michael Moore Hates America." Ultra-conservative groups are lobbying theatres to revoke the first amendment and refuse to show this movies--and in many cases, they have been successful. Did the King Ranger Cinema in Seguin show F 9/11 last week? How about the Cinema 10 in Huntsville? Don't think so. Dubya spokespersons have denounced the film as false (even though they haven't seen it, of course).

But thousands of us decided to keep our mouths shut, line up at the theatres, and see it for ourselves. What we saw was footage we'll never see on CNN. Questions we'd never thought to ask. Crowds of like-minded individuals trying to get a handle on what's going wrong in this country. And when the movie was over, we applauded.

I'll leave it to the experts to write the reviews: military and 9/11 families, the New York Daily News, and Roger Ebert. Was the movie factual? Check out The Ithaca Times for a fact-check that's a little less biased than that Bill O'Reilly asshole. Go see the movie, and when you leave the theatre so angry and overwhelmed that you're shaking, come home and log onto Stop Bush in 2004.com to find out what you can do.

The movie isn't perfect; there are a few bones I'd like to pick with Mr. Moore (what was with the stereotyping of countries like The Netherlands during the "Coalition of the Willing" segment?). But the bottom line is that it makes you think, and that's the point. This country that's supposed to be "for the people" really has nothing to do with us, and it's time to change that. As long as people like Michael Moore ask the hard questions and tell us the things we didn't really think we wanted to hear, maybe there's still some hope for us.
-pg

1 comment:

Peacegrrl said...

Holy shit. The King Ranger Theatre is, as of this posting, screening Fahrenheit 9/11. I'm so damned shocked that I'm prob. going to go see it this week--just to verify that it is, indeed, the real thing.