Official Ebert review of Moore film

Chicago Sun Times

[Borges]

FAHRENHEIT 9/11 / ***1/2

June 24, 2004

Lions Gate/IFC Films presents a documentary directed by Michael Moore. Narrated by Moore. Running time: 110 minutes. Rated R (some violent and disturbing images, and for language).

BY ROGER EBERT

Michael Moore's "Fahrenheit 9/11" is less an expose of George W. Bush than a dramatization of what Moore sees as a failed and dangerous presidency. The charges in the film will not come as news to those who pay attention to politics, but Moore illustrates them with dramatic images and a relentless commentary track that essentially concludes Bush is incompetent, dishonest, failing in the war on terrorism, and has bad taste in friends.

Although Moore's narration ranges from outrage to sarcasm, the most devastating passage in the film speaks for itself. That's when Bush, who was reading My Pet Goat to a classroom of Florida children, is notified of the second attack on the World Trade Center, and yet lingers with the kids for almost seven minutes before finally leaving the room. His inexplicable paralysis wasn't underlined in news reports at the time, and only Moore thought to contact the teacher in that schoolroom -- who, as it turned out, had made her own video of the visit. The expression on Bush's face as he sits there is odd indeed.

Bush, here and elsewhere in the film, is characterized as a man who owes a lot to his friends, including those who helped bail him out of business ventures. Moore places particular emphasis on what he sees as a long-term friendship between the Bush family (including both presidents) and powerful Saudi Arabians. More than $1.4 billion in Saudi money has flowed into the coffers of Bush family enterprises, he says, and after 9/11 the White House helped expedite flights out of the country carrying, among others, members of the bin Laden family (which disowns its most famous member).

Moore examines the military records released by Bush to explain his disappearance from the Texas Air National Guard, and finds that the name of another pilot has been blacked out. This pilot, he learns, was Bush's close friend James R. Bath, who became Texas money manager for the billionaire bin Ladens. Another indication of the closeness of the Bushes and the Saudis: The law firm of James Baker, the secretary of State for Bush's father, was hired by the Saudis to defend them against a suit by a group of 9/11 victims and survivors, who charged that the Saudis had financed al-Qaida.

To Moore, this is more evidence that Bush has an unhealthy relationship with the Saudis, and that it may have influenced his decision to go to war against Iraq at least partially on their behalf. The war itself Moore considers unjustified (no WMDs, no Hussein-bin Laden link), and he talks with American soldiers, including amputees, who complain bitterly about Bush's proposed cuts of military salaries at the same time he was sending them into a war that they (at least, the ones Moore spoke to) hated.

Moore also shows American military personnel who are apparently enjoying the war; he has footage of soldiers who use torture techniques not in a prison but in the field, where they hood an Iraqi prisoner, call him "Ali Baba" and pose for videos while touching his genitals.

Moore brings a fresh impact to familiar material by the way he marshals his images. We are all familiar with the controversy over the 2000 election, which was settled by the U.S. Supreme Court. What I hadn't seen before was footage of the ratification of Bush's election by the U.S. Congress. An election can be debated at the request of one senator and one representative; 10 representatives rise to challenge it, but not a single senator. As Moore shows the challengers, one after another, we cannot help noting that they are eight black women, one Asian woman and one black man. They are all gaveled into silence by the chairman of the joint congressional session -- Vice President Al Gore. The urgency and futility of the scene reawakens old feelings for those who believe Bush is an illegitimate president.

"Fahrenheit 9/11" opens on a note not unlike Moore's earlier films, such as "Roger & Me" and "Bowling for Columbine." Moore, as narrator, brings humor and sarcasm to his comments, and occasionally appears onscreen in a gadfly role. It's vintage Moore, for example, when he brings along an unsuspecting Marine recruiter as he confronts congressmen, urging them to have their children enlist in the service. And he makes good use of candid footage, including an eerie video showing Bush practicing facial expressions before going live with his address to the nation about 9/11.

Apparently Bush and other members of his administration don't know what every TV reporter knows, that a satellite image can be live before they get the cue to start talking. That accounts for the quease-inducing footage of Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz wetting his pocket comb in his mouth before slicking back his hair. When that doesn't do it, he spits in his hand and wipes it down. If his mother is alive, I hope for his sake she doesn't see this film.

Such scenes are typical of vintage Moore, catching his subjects off guard. But his film grows steadily darker, and Moore largely disappears from it, as he focuses on people such as Lila Lipscomb, from Moore's hometown of Flint, Mich.; she reads a letter from her son, written days before he was killed in Iraq. It urges his family to work for Bush's defeat.

"Fahrenheit 9/11" is a compelling, persuasive film, at odds with the White House effort to present Bush as a strong leader. He comes across as a shallow, inarticulate man, simplistic in speech and inauthentic in manner. If the film is not quite as electrifying as Moore's "Bowling for Columbine," that may be because Moore has toned down his usual exuberance and was sobered by attacks on the factual accuracy of elements of "Columbine"; playing with larger stakes, he is more cautious here, and we get an op-ed piece, not a stand-up routine. But he remains one of the most valuable figures on the political landscape, a populist rabble-rouser, humorous and effective; the outrage and incredulity in his film are an exhilarating response to Bush's determined repetition of the same stubborn sound bites.

[Jaded]

I remember watching Mike von Fremd on abc via realmedia when the missle hit the mall in Kuwait city last year. He made faces, rubbed his teeth, played with his hair and talked to his director. Some of his comments were slightly less than kind while he was waiting to go live on 20-20.

Those of us who watched the Bag cams remember 'Pretty Boy', Richard Engle doing the same fricken thing.

Michael Moore is a menace. Whether or not one is a Bush fan (clearly neither Moore or Ebert is), we'd be in a heck of a lot worse shape if TreeMan/Alpha Dog had won the election. Women would all be wearing burquas by now.

[Constitution Day]

“Official,” mind you.

I suppose that settles it.
This is the very ne plus ultra of reviews.

[beansox]

imagine if we did a film about hillary... they would label it hate speech and spend millions trying to discredit it. they are hypocrits.

[tracer]

Moore will be dealt with sooner than later by the Grim Reaper, who no doubt covets his fat @$$ and Falstaffian pus-gut. I wonder what the effect of well-placed blood clots (= natural causes) would have on a smelly, unshaven, unkempt boar who has neither a heart nor a brain. Perhaps the answer would be of interest to the makers of Preparation-H.

Only his coroner knows for sure.....

[BibChr]

...the most devastating passage in the film ...[is] when Bush, who was reading My Pet Goat to a classroom of Florida children, is notified of the second attack on the World Trade Center, and yet lingers with the kids for almost seven minutes before finally leaving the room. His inexplicable paralysis wasn't underlined in news reports at the time, and only Moore thought to contact the teacher in that schoolroom -- who, as it turned out, had made her own video of the visit. The expression on Bush's face as he sits there is odd indeed.

Gosh, this embarrasses me as a member of the same species (and sex!) as both Ebert and Moore.

Seriously, God as my witness -- this is THE ONE STUPIDEST CRITICISM in this whole situation. It has been so ROUNDLY, so EASILY, so TOTALLY discredited -- that anyone can state it without a blush of humiliated shame....

Ack. This makes my brain itch and jitter. No more polite words.

Deb?

Dan
(c8

[kellynla]

Let's see how it does at the box office...

Prediction: it will do well in NYC and LA and die everywhere else.
In fact, don't be surprised if it is pulled in half of the theaters after the first week, fizzle out and be history in a month...

Everyone knows what Michael Moron is all about, no one needs to spend ten bucks a head to watch some anti-American propaganda that would have been banned during WWI & WWII.

Semper Fi,
Kelly

[Cubs Fan]

In other news Roger Ebert gives 4 stars to all of, Moore's mentor, Jospeh Goebbel's "documentaries"

[BJungNan]

That's when Bush, who was reading My Pet Goat to a classroom of Florida children, is notified of the second attack on the World Trade Center, and yet lingers with the kids for almost seven minutes before finally leaving the room. His inexplicable paralysis...

On they are so right on this point. I much prefer a president that jumps right up at the first sign of trouble, flails his arms wildly, screams to everyone in the room and loses it emotionally.

Speaking of which, isn't Gore scheduled for some sort of event today?

[dsc]

"When Moore was questioned about his claim that Bush unwisely lingered for six or seven minutes in that Florida classroom after learning of the World Trade Center attacks"

Yes, Bush should have leapt into action immediately. Why, in that six or seven minutes he could have...could have...what exactly, you two morons, could or should Bush have been doing that couldn't wait six or seven minutes?

"I agree with Moore"

Well, at least he admits that he's Satan's catamite, instead of lying about it like most liberals.

I very much doubt that there are many conservatives who would be supportive of a conservative Michael Moore's documentary, "Ensign Band-Aid," were it as dishonest about Kerry as Moore is about everything.

[beansox]

dont forget it will get a mid october dvd release date...just in time for the election... so predictible...

when mm won the oscar for BFC and made his big speech there was a huge picuture in the la times of congratulating him the next day... i cut it out and took red marker and made a big anti circle over his head and wrote fascist pig all over it... i put it in an envelope and mailed it to miramax... i am still waiting on a respose.

[grellis]

I still think he did the right thing. Those seven minutes, had they been spent differently, would not have changed what happened.

I found out about the first plane crashing into the tower by a phone call from my father. I said I hadn't seen any news yet and he remarked that it couldn't possibly have been a mistake (at the time, remember, nobody knew what the hell was going on). As we spoke I knew it had to be terrorism. I didn't run into our living room and immediately turn on the news. My kids were watching a video. I let them watch it to the end, gave them hugs, and sent them off to play before I turned the news on. I put my kids first.

[Mr. Buzzcut]

Peas in a pod.

Only if the pod is the size of an airplane hangar!

[baseballmom]

and only Moore thought to contact the teacher in that schoolroom -- who, as it turned out, had made her own video of the visit.

The principal at the school thought GWB's actions were exactly right. She said she didn't vote for him, but she would have that day.

The dems are all about image. GW should have pulled a pistol from his belt, and drawn a sword from its scabbard, and done the He-Man schtick? Right, that would have been a calming scene.

I do appreciate Ebert telling his readers up front of his political stripes. An honest dem - who knew?

[sarasota]

I assume the media's talking heads are liberals. With the exception of a few Fox folk.

[grellis]

Gosh, this embarrasses me as a member of the same species (and sex!) as both Ebert and Moore.

Being a girl has its occasional upsides, I must admit!

The criticism of Bush's having read the story isn't new and it has ALWAYS rankled me. The President should be faulted because he chose not to let down a bunch of kids? Those minutes would not have changed what happened!

I have no plans of ever seeing "F911" but I'm going to snag a copy of "My Pet Goat" this weekend, FWIW.

[LRS]

Moore and Egbert: 2 blimps at the mooring mast...

[beansox]

if he had run out of the building like an idiot..oops i mean liberal would have... thye would have faulted him for not keeping his composure in a time of crisis... it dammed if you dammed if you dont...(sarcasm on) bottom line is the president should just have an affair with an intern so we can praise his accomplishments (sarcasm off)

[Paradox]

Prediction: it will do well in NYC and LA and die everywhere else.

I think it will do VERY well for the first few days. It will make the news, DU will be happy, we will be screaming, giving then all the schadenfreude they could want. The news media will cover it like some kind of big event, thus feeding the temporary frenzy..

Then Spiderman comes around and saves the day...

[Dane]

Sarasota principal defends Bush from "Fahrenheit 9/11" portrayal
AP/Sarasota Herald-Tribune ^ | 6-23-04

Posted on 06/23/2004 12:26:24 PM EDT by veronica

SARASOTA, Fla. -- Michael Moore's film "Fahrenheit 9/11" criticizes President Bush for listening to Sarasota second-graders read a story for nearly seven minutes after learning the nation was under attack on Sept. 11, 2001.

But Gwendolyn Tose'-Rigell, the principal at Emma E. Booker Elementary School, says Bush handled himself properly.

"I don't think anyone could have handled it better," Tose'-Rigell told the Sarasota Herald-Tribune in a story published Wednesday. "What would it have served if he had jumped out of his chair and ran out of the room?"

"Fahrenheit 9/11," which won the top honor at last month's Cannes Film Festival, portrays the White House as asleep at the wheel before the Sept. 11 attacks. Moore accuses Bush of fanning fears of future terrorism to win public support for the Iraq war.

Bush told the federal 9/11 Commission, which released its report last week, that he remained in the classroom because he felt it was "important to project strength and calm until he could better understand what was happening." Moore says Bush failed to take charge.

Tose'-Rigell, who was at Bush's side, did not hear what White House Chief of Staff Andrew Card whispered when he squeezed past her to tell the president of the attacks, but "I knew it was something serious."

"The president bit his lip and clenched his jaw," she said. "I didn't know what happened, whether it was something with his wife or children or something with the nation. I remember praying that God would watch over our school and protect our children."

She said the video doesn't convey all that was going on in the classroom, but Bush's presence had a calming effect and "helped us get through a very difficult day."

Tose'-Rigell said she plans to publish her account of the morning of Sept. 11 from pages she wrote in her journal following the attack. The principal said she didn't vote for Bush. "But that day I would have voted for him."

Ebert, moore, and the DUmmies will probably give the principal the one finger salute, IMO.

[Lurking in Kansas]

Hey Ebert, wipe your chin.