The Greatest Trick

Michael Moore is a curious chap. In the past few years, Heidi and I have watched all his films as director available in the UK (Roger & Me, Bowling for Columbine and now Fahrenheit 9/11), and have read a couple of his books, most notably Stupid White Men and Dude, Where’s my Country?. While there are certain views of his that we absolutely do not share (say, on abortion), he makes for very entertaining reading and documentary film-making, and provokes you to consider the issues that get bandied around in a little more detail (like, was the Iraq war all about oil? According to this film, it would seem that way). But at the same time, he is a shameless manipulator of facts and events and sound and pictures to make you feel what he wants you to feel, especially in his films, and I know that this frustrates a lot of people (while of course every film-maker does this, it feels less acceptable in a documentary than in a fiction). There is a clear example of this to British viewers - he presents a list of the silly little countries who ally with Bush over the Iraq war, but leaves the UK out totally, just to make his point.

Fahrenheit 9/11 (the title of it annoys me, by the way. You should say ‘nine-one-one’, so as to recognise the steal from the title of Fahrenheit 451 - ‘four-five-one’ - , but everyone says ‘nine-eleven’) is no exception to this. Moore’s chosen focus this time is George W Bush: his history, his business dealings, his agendas, his administration, his wars, his miraculous ability to win states in elections, his father’s influence and, of course, his stupidity. In some parts of the film, it feels like Moore has just become obssessed with personally attacking this man (e.g. the moment when Bush is told about the World Trade Centre attacks, he is sat in a primary classroom with a load of children, thinking about what to do and trying to process the information. He looks troubled and a bit blank, which I think I would look like in that situation, but Moore lambasts him for not getting up and doing something for ten minutes, and speculates wildly about what could be going through the President’s mind). In others he presents facts which shock fairly and reasonably: did you know that when all planes were grounded straight after the 9/11 attacks, special dispensation was made to fly members of the Bin Laden family out of America, so they wouldn’t come under attack? And still other sections have a narration track that makes Moore’s commentary feel like borderline racism (when talking about the Bush family’s relationship with Saudi Arabia).

Moore’s style of confrontational film-making is still present (when he finds out that only one member of Congress has a child signed up and fighting in Iraq, he accosts more of them on Capitol Hill to see if he can persuade them to sign their children up to help the war effort. Unsuprisingly, they are reluctant.), and this continues to entertain, but the film seemed less focussed than his previous work, especially Bowling for Columbine, which was excellent. He also reveals his own limited scope by going back to his home town of Flint (see Roger & Me for more on this place), and not really spending any time considering the implications of Bush as a world leader, just his effect on the American people.

Not a bad film overall, but not as sharp as previous offerings. There are some graphic images of death and war, and some sudden swearing which takes you a bit by surprise! See Bowling for Columbine for the best example of Michael Moore’s work.