Enjablog

I ventured out to watch Fahrenheit 9/11 last night and, as everyone else has been saying, it is a very powerful movie. Most of the information provided I had heard about before, like the connection between the Bush family and the Bin Laden family, the financial reasons behind the war, and the fact that Bush has been wanting to attack Iraq since before 9/11. I did not know that Bush sat around for almost 10 minutes reading My Pet Goat along with a class of kindergarteners (not even reading to them… Someone else was reading) after he was informed of the attack on the twin towers. I also did not know that flights were approved to allow the members of the Bin Laden family currently in the US to leave and return to Afghanistan, while all other flights were canceled. I think Moore did a good job of connecting the dots and, though the movie was definitely leading, it does force you to question the actions of the current administration, whether you agree with his conclusions or not. It’s hard to say, “Michael Moore is a liar” without actually doing research to prove what it was he was misrepresenting. I believe that no matter how unflatteringly he portrayed people, those people did an equally poor job of portraying themselves. For the most part, he merely compiled clips of things people said on camera.

To me, the striking part of the film came from the footage of the war, moreso than the conclusions he drew from the information he gathered. Intellectually, I understand there’s a war going on and this means that people get hurt, people hurt others, and people die. But actually hearing some of the soldiers talk, the music they listen to to get them in the mood to kill, watching the civilians cart away the corpses of family members and neighbors, and then seeing children wounded from attacks and soldiers missing limbs and trying to live their lives when all they do is try to make it through the pain to face the next minute… it’s numbing. When he first begins talking to the soldiers, I think they are portrayed very negatively, which, on the one hand is disrespectful to these people who are doing their best follow their orders, but on the other hand, he didn’t bad-mouth them; he showed what they said. It’s not representative of all soldiers, and he does later show a more human[e] side of some other soldiers. Psychologically, I understand that killing is not something we are normally raised to do. So, in order to cope with this dissonance, they have to separate themselves from the lives that they’re actually taking. The way they do this is demonizing the people in their minds. They’re trying to help these people, and for some reason the people they’re trying to help don’t like Americans. They must deserve what they get then. It must all be justified. Sure, civilians are hurt in the attacks, but those casualties are “worth” it in order to get the bad guys.

I did find it a little surprising that Hussein’s actions toward the Iraqi people were completely glossed over. Maybe the media has mislead me, but it seemed like things couldn’t have been as completely happy and chipper as the film portrayed them to be prior to war. Anyway, I don’t think that I really had a point and I’m tired of writing now. My opinion: I would recommend watching this movie. If you don’t like Michael Moore, you will know what was addressed so you can argue the points that he made to people who follow him blindly. If you do like him, think and make your own conclusions. Don’t be a lemming. :) -J.

Stolen from ROD: Counterbias.com– Flawed but powerful, Fahrenheit 9/11 tells a heartbreaking story of war