Moore strikes a political nerve in 'Fahrenheit 9/11'

By Jack Garner
Gannett News Service

FAHRENHEIT 9/11 (Rated R) Three-and-a-Half Stars (Good-to-Excellent) Michael Moore's skillful, potent polemic that depicts George W. Bush as an inept, shallow p, unable to cope with running the country before, during and after the devastation of Sept. 11. Lion's Gate and IFC Films, 120 minutes.

The man who took on General Motors with "Roger and Me" and America's gun laws with "Bowling for Columbine" now targets the White House in a film that won the Palme d'Or at last month's Cannes Film Festival.

The implication is obvious: Moore would like his potent attack on George Bush's Iraqi policies to bring down the president.

In his two-hour attack, Moore depicts an inept, shallow president, unable to cope with running the country before, during and after the devastation of 9/11. In Moore's depiction, he's a clueless, amoral fool, myopically bent on protecting his friends and business associates in the oil business and in achieving revenge against Saddam Hussein, the Iraqi dictator who arrogantly opposed Bush's father.

The film is a relentless litany of Bush conniving and ineptitude, starting with a presidential victory that Moore maintains he stole with his governor-brother's help in Florida.

In the days leading up to Sept. 11, quoting the Washington Post, Moore says Bush spent 42 percent of his time on vacation — horseback riding at his Texas ranch, deep-sea fishing and playing golf. At one point, he stands on a golf course and makes an impassioned plea to reporters about global terrorism, and then adds, "Now watch this drive!" In one of the film's more devastating sequences, Bush sits transfixed for a full seven minutes in an elementary school classroom reading "My Pet Goat" after being told the World Trade Center had been hit.

Moore leans heavily on the findings of Craig Unger in his book, "House of Bush, House of Saud," about Bush's connections and friendships with many high-ranking Saudis, particularly through the oil business. This leads to the accusation that the Bush administration enabled several Saudis, including 24 of Osama bin Laden's relatives, to flee the United States in chartered planes on Sept. 12, 2001, even though airplanes were supposedly grounded.

The film never accuses bin Laden's family — Osama is, after all, well known as the deadly loose cannon of an apparently reputable clan. But Moore argues that even in a common murder case, the police would like the chance to at least talk to the family, just in case they know where to find the suspect. Thanks to Bush, they flew the coop.

Oil surges through nearly all of Bush's decisions. The invasion of Iraq helps avenge a father, creates big-time moneymaking opportunities for all sorts of opportunistic businesses, including Vice President Dick Cheney's former co-workers at Halliburton and, of course, uncovers no weapons of mass destruction or direct ties to bin Laden.

And, in the aftermath of Sept. 11, the Bush administration pushes through the Patriot Act, which shreds the U.S. Constitution, in Moore's view. He points out it was printed up and debated in the middle of the night, and passed with almost no legislator bothering to read it.

The film turns more personal and poignant in the final third, when Moore showcases Lila Lipscomb, a conservative democrat from Flint, Mich., who loves the flag, hates protestors, and believes her family is part of the backbone of America. But, when one of her sons is killed in Iraq, she becomes an impassioned crusader, trying vainly to find the purpose of her son's death.

Moore wisely downplays his own role in "Fahrenheit 9/11," letting most of the story be told through an impressive array of footage, acquired from far and wide. Some shows the gruesome aftermath of Iraqi bombings — including the mutilated bodies of children — and of terrorist actions and public beheadings. There's also footage of the mistreatment of Iraqi prisoners (though not the too-familiar recent incidents from the Abu Ghraib prison).

As film narrative, "Fahrenheit 9/11" is sometimes bumpy, without smooth transitions between all the segments and without an always-consistent story-telling style.

Still, "Fahrenheit 9/11" is a skillful polemic, a powerful cinematic op-ed piece (as Moore himself describes it). It makes you think. It makes you argue.

It may make you shudder. It makes you mad. Agree with him or not, Moore is a master of his own peculiar, homespun media. And "Fahrenheit 9/11" will be at the fulcrum of emotional political debate between now and November.

Rated R for bloody images and a beheading.