Starring George W. Bush, Dick Cheney, John Ashcroft, Michael Moore
Written By:
Directed By: Michael Moore
Studio: Columbia/ Tristar
Buy on Amazon.com link

There were 2 movies that everyone talked about this year; Passion of the Christ and the other was Fahrenheit 9/11. People either love Michael Moore or downright hate him, but I’ll tell you one thing, he certainly makes movies that get people talking.

If you’ve lived in a cave in Afghanistan for a year, I’ll tell you a little bit about Fahrenheit 9/11. It’s a documentary that Michael Moore has put together about the Bush Administration and how and why they are misleading the American public before and after the tragic events of 9/11. Most of the documentary’s footage is priceless because it’s just real footage of George W. Bush acting like a complete moron or a big-time asshole, or both! Most of the comedy just comes directly from President Bush and what he says or does. Some of the stuff he says, it seems almost made up because it’s just so unlike someone to say in public, certainly uncharacteristic of a President to say. Moore also attacks the rest of the administration like Dick Cheney, John Ashcroft, and others. The first half of the movie talks about 9/11. Stuff that happened before hand and after. How the Bush administration is covering up stuff, and has ties to certain people, that are associated with terrorists. The second half of the documentary is focusing on the Iraq war, and gets personal with stories from parents losing their kids, and watching soldiers do some of their missions.

Now, many people don’t like Moore because he’s too biased or stretches the truth. What people have to realize is that this is his movie, not their movie, and whatever he wants to say or have in the film, he’s going to have it his way. Why would he have normal footage to show of Bush when the whole movie is about bashing the hell out of him? I can understand people getting upset about the fact stuff though. Though, supposedly Michael Moore says he can back up all the things he had in the film. And even if the truth may be a little stretched out, just knowing that some of this stuff is true is frightening. Now besides all the hard-hitting political stuff, Moore does some things in a very humorous way. For instance, the whole “Vacation” stuff was hilarious. Als, another funny part was when Moore was talking about how Bush is a cowboy, and then he superimposed Bush’s, Rumsfield’s, Cheney’s faces onto the heads of the cast of Bonanza, with the theme to Magnificent Seven playing. Besides that scene, the music really stuck out. Songs you wouldn’t normally hear in this type of movie pop up like TV show theme “the Greatest American Hero” or “Shiny Happy People.” It makes some of the scenes even funnier to watch. One thing I thought Moore did that was good, was he didn’t show too much footage from 9/11. Though, he did use audio with just a black screen and you could tell right away what that was from. It was just as effective as it was showing video footage. It’s very uncomfortable hearing & seeing footage of 9/11. I’ve seen so much footage, that the media love to play over and over again, it just gets a little bit unsettling. I also saw the whole thing live on TV. I don’t know how people could sleep at night surviving that, or witnessing it in person. Back to the movie though, If I had a favorite part of the movie, it probably was just the first half of the film, and the second half tends to drag a little bit. Of course, I didn’t like watching the public beheadings (not the recent ones with the Americans) and other cringy things that are happening overseas but I guess people have to see what’s happening over there. Not everything is all peaches like the President seems to think.

There’s a fair amount of extras on this DVD. I liked how the DVD menu was the infamous color chart that Homeland Security made up. I think the best features on here are “The Release of Fahrenheit 9/11” and Eyewitness account from Samara, Iraq. The Release of Fahrenheit 9/11 has a lot of interviews with celebrities, politicians about the movie. It shows the Cannes jury (Quentin Tarantino is one of them) telling people why they picked Fahrenheit 9/11 as the top prize. The Other extra on here that I liked was the Samara Prison stuff, and the Swedish filmmakers talks about his eyewitness account and has the footage to back it up as well. It’s really sad to see some of that footage and what the U.S. soldiers are doing to these some-what innocent people. For some of you that don’t know about it, solider’s put bags on the captives’ heads, and then took pictures with them, and even touch their penises as a goof. Obviously a lot of other stuff occurred over There’s a lot of deleted footage that didn’t make it into the movie. One extra was a segment all on Arab American comedians and I liked that one. There was footage from Condolezza Rice’s 9/11 Commission Testimony, footage from outside Abu Ghraib prison, Lila Lipscomb at the DC premiere of the movie, and a few other things.

If you care for Moore’s films, and think you might like this subject that he tackles, by all means check out the film. If you are going into this movie with undecided feelings, don’t bother looking for answers. If you don’t know what’s going on in the world, don’t have a filmmaker or anyone for that matter make the mind up for you. Get educated and think for yourself. Fahrenheit 9/1 is meant for some enjoyment, some informative things but generally most of the people seeing this movie probably already know most of the stuff that Moore talks about in the film anyway.

Features:
Featurette: The Release of FAHRENHEIT 9/11
Montage: The People of Iraq on the Eve of Invasion
New Scene: Homeland Security, Miami Style
Outside Abu Ghraib Prison
Eyewitness account from Samara, Iraq
Extended Interview: More with Abdul Henderson
Lila Lipscomb at the Washington D.C. Premiere
Arabn-American Comedians n- Their acts and experiences after 9/11
Condoleezza Rice’s 9/11 Commission Testimony
Rose Garden press briefing after 9/11 Commission Appearance

Audio:
ENGLISH: Dolby Digital 5.1 CC

Video:
Widescreen 1.78:1 Color (Anamorphic)

Subtitles:

Favorite Scenes:
Rating: Rated R
Running Time: 122 minutes
Extras Rating:
Overall Rating: