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Wednesday, Nov 25, 2009
Moore's latest has some powerful images that are invariably overwhelmed by his jokey, faux-populist self-righteousness.
Jun 23, 2004 | People who consider themselves basically in league with Michael Moore's politics but dislike his movies often feel compelled to defend him as a concept: "He's a much-needed liberal voice," goes one argument. "He raises issues that need to be raised, that no one else is raising," goes another. And now, with the release of "Fahrenheit: 9/11," Moore's examination of the presidency of George W. Bush in the wake of Sept. 11, another cogent defense is born: "Republicans have tried to suppress this movie -- it must be good!"
Those responses toward Moore have a robotic, "Manchurian Candidate" quality ("Michael Moore is the kindest, bravest, warmest, most wonderful human being I've ever known in my life"). Moore's supporters are quick to impugn the liberal credentials of anyone who criticizes his presentation of the information he digs up (or, in some cases, makes up). For them, Michael Moore is the issues he talks about, so his detractors must be enemies of democratic principles. It's an old trick, akin to the way Pauline Kael was accused of being insensitive about the Holocaust when she didn't like "Shoah."
In the Moore universe, noisy tub-thumping is deemed more valuable than stringent logic; presenting crucial information in a manner that's irrefutable (by naysayers of any political bent) is much less important than drawing a comfortable little circle in which we're encouraged to congratulate ourselves for being on the "correct" side, for having the good sense to recognize that our president is "bad" and the Iraq war is "wrong."
"Fahrenheit 9/11" is a blend of news footage and filmed commentary that's occasionally effective, particularly when Moore lets the gathered footage speak for itself. But that doesn't happen nearly enough: "Fahrenheit 9/11" has Moore's sloppy fingerprints all over it -- he's like the mugging moppet who insists on doing a tap-dancing routine during the Thanksgiving pageant, lest the Indians, our forefathers or even the bird itself steal the show from him.
"Fahrenheit 9/11"
Directed by Michael Moore
Although he has stated that his aim is to force the election's outcome by calling attention to the Bush administration's web of duplicity and deceit, Moore, ever the self-promoter, is the real star of "Fahrenheit 9/11." I agree with probably 95 percent of Moore's politics. At the very least, I'm convinced that George W. Bush is the most dangerous president of my lifetime -- he long ago superseded even the spurious, deceitful Nixon. But even though I'm part of the choir Moore is preaching to, I can't help blanching at his approach: In this increasingly treacherous political climate -- particularly as we approach an election whose impact may resound more thunderously than any other in recent history -- preaching to the choir just isn't good enough. "Fahrenheit 9/11" shows evidence of being better researched than any of Moore's previous films. An article in last Sunday's New York Times made much of Moore's hiring former New Yorker fact checkers to vet it. But Moore's case is undermined by his jokey, faux-populist self-righteousness (a quality the left seems to despise only when it's exhibited by those on the right) and by the slapdash connections he makes between various facts and events. The issues at stake are too serious for a spotlight-hungry manipulator like Moore to be mucking around with.
If you boiled "Fahrenheit 9/11" down to a few basic assertions, you'd have to say Moore is on the right track: He states that Bush was never elected in the first place and that, at least partly because of Bush family ties with Saudi oil interests (connections that have been explored by Craig Unger and a few others, but not by most of the press), Saudi Arabia has gotten a free ride in terms of post-9/11 scrutiny. Before the attacks, Bush and his cabinet ignored warnings about the terrorist threat to this country; afterward, he attempted to squelch any independent investigation of the attacks. Furthermore, the Bush administration has exploited the tragedy of Sept. 11 to foster a culture of fear in the United States; our so-called president then roused us fearful Americans into support for, or at least a numb acceptance of, a war that he has justified only with false allegations.
