fahrenheit 9/11
It is impossible to be neutral about Michael Moore. The American activist and filmmaker is a pugnacious campaigner whose latest film, Fahrenheit 9/11, has matched his Oscar-winning Bowling for Columbine both in critical acclaim and box-office receipts.
The film is a sustained, personal attack on George W Bush, tracing his presidency from election-night fiasco, through September 11th and Afghanistan, to the invasion of Iraq, on which it dwells at length. In Moore’s distinctive style, it uses interviews, news clips, live footage, stunts and up-beat soundtracks to tell a story of corruption, ineptitude, manipulation, greed, hypocrisy and human tragedy.
Fahrenheit 9/11 is engaging, witty and not afraid to tell the unpleasant truth about war. It is also overlong and rather shapeless, giving the impression of a director lashing out at his subject in any way possible. Its greatest weakness, however, is that its insistent tone of polemic undermines its documentary credentials, leaving the viewer distrusting the director as much, if not more than, his prey.
Incisive satire rubs shoulders with cheap emotional blackmail, serious investigative journalism with insidious selectivity. In one moment, convincing and disturbing ties between US business and politics are traced; in another, Saddam’s Iraq is portrayed as an arcadia in which children play freely. Bush is made to look stupid and mendacious but, as one reviewer remarked, ‘given enough archive footage, a pair of scissors and a knack for comic juxtaposition, Moore could make just about anyone look dumb.’
All this works against the film’s objective of discrediting Bush and his administration. It does, however, remind us that all documentaries, reports and articles need to be ‘read’. Neutrality is a dangerous myth, usually peddled by those who do not want their sources or agendas revealed.
Christians often find this fact threatening, challenging their cherished notions of objective ‘gospel truth’. But both Luke and John (unlike Moore) are entirely open about their intentions (Luke 1.1-4, John 20.30-31) and the other New Testament writers are hardly coy about theirs.
That openness is not an admission of bias (in the popular sense of the word) but a recognition of reality. Knowledge is personal, commitment is important and neutrality is, at best, a chimera and, at worst, a pretext.
It is impossible to be neutral about Michael Moore because what he is saying matters. One might say the same of Jesus Christ.
Nick Spencer
additional resources
The official website: www.fahrenheit911.com
Michael Moore’s home page (which includes a section on ‘the facts of Fahrenheit 9/11): www.michaelmoore.com
For a criticism of the film, see Christopher Hitchens’ article, ‘Unfairenheit 9/11: The Lies of Michael Moore’
The Guardian’s sub-site on the film (including a good review by Mark Kermode): http://film.guardian.co.uk/fahrenheit911
The 9/11 Commission report: www.9-11commission.gov
Resources for biblical history: www.bible-history.com
To explore the idea of personal knowledge, a good place to start is with the scientist and philosopher Michael Polanyi: www.mwsc.edu
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