Damning George Bush Jr. was something at which Michael Moore
excelled. When he spewed it all out on
film, you got Fahrenheit 9/11. Bowling
for Columbine may have given Republicans fits, but this film put them
firmly into stroke country.
Moore’s film is all about taking the Bush administration and
the media to task for a presidency and war
(and a war on terror) that Moore felt was false and dangerous. Disney tried to stop the film. It got out.
Some reporters claimed there were distortions of truth. Moore cited his sources. Republicans claimed it was biased. The rest of the world answered with,
“Duh.” Moore used the words and actions
of the media, politicians and U.S. soldiers to get his point across, and in
doing so created what was at the time (and still may be) the highest grossing
documentary ever created.
If there is a problem that plagues this film, it is a
problem suffered by most documentaries of any worth – they preach to the converted. Republicans weren’t going to this movie and
coming out changed people. They weren’t
going to this movie, period. At the 2004
Cannes Film Festival it received a 20 minute standing ovation. That didn’t come from conservatives … at
least not American conservatives.
(Conservatives overseas are not of the pro-American ilk.) It also didn’t come from people whose eyes
were opened by it. It came from people
who already believed what Moore had on screen and who were happy he was able to
present it the way he did. I am one of
them, though I wasn’t at Cannes.
Moore’s film have caused him to suffer from the usual
attacks, whether it was the class-baiting look at his net worth, the juvenile
digs on his weight, or the more justified questions on his use of facts. Some even used the fact that it was pirated
in Cuba against him, as if he had some control over that. It was, as expected, a feeding frenzy on
Moore.
I can’t think of any other documentary in history that has
won so much acclaim and enraged so many at the same time. If that alone was its claim to fame, it
wouldn’t be making my list. The fact
that it did that and is actually a great film is what put it here. His latest documentaries may not be making
the same impression upon me, but this one is gold.
Mandatory FTC Disclaimer: I did not receive this film to review. If you click on a link I may earn a commission.
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