There’s a telling line in Ray Bradbury’s classic cautionary novel “Fahrenheit 451” that reads, “You can’t make people listen.
They have to come ‘round in their own time, wondering what happened and why the world blew up under them.” Michael Moore may have borrowed the book’s name for his explosive new film, but not so much the sentiment. America’s most polemical documentarian seems determined to make people listen to what he has to say, and never has he argued a position so loudly as he does in the rousing “Fahrenheit 9/11.” Moore is convinced that George W. Bush and his ruling class cronies are recklessly leading the country’s working stiffs down a treacherous path, and he damn sure isn’t going without a nasty fight. To that end he’s made a scathing movie that — true to the hype — the Bushies most certainly do not want you to see. As presented convincingly by Moore through news footage and interviews (primarily with Bush detractors), Dubya is the definitive Fortunate Son who presides over a dangerous administration hellbent on protecting the financial interests of an elite few and carrying out personal vendettas to the detriment of the great unwashed.
Bush’s supporters will no doubt see an objectionable incongruity in the president being offered up as both a bumbling rube and a crackerjack conniver. But in actuality Moore, who does nothing to mask his bias, clearly is under-whelmed by Bush’s intellect and repeatedly makes the case that the president is being controlled by a wily old group of right-wing ideologues led by Dick Cheney, Donald Rumsfeld and Bush Sr. No matter which side of the political fence you choose to stand on, it’s impossible not to be moved by the film’s most powerful images. Among them: a Michigan woman reading a letter from her son written days before he was killed in combat in Iraq; a glassy-eyed Bush remaining in an elementary school classroom photo-op a full seven minutes after learning of the World Trade Center attack; the charred bodies of Americans being dragged through the streets by joyous Iraqis. There also are several laugh-out-loud segments that serve to quell, at least momentarily, the prevailing discomfort. How you’ll digest the damning evidence against Bush, ala Moore, no doubt depends largely upon your own leanings. One thing’s for sure, this controversial film is generating plenty of heat, and audiences — ready or not — are bound to come ‘round in droves. It says here that “Fahrenheit 9/11” is well-deserving of the attention. (Rated R. Running time: 112 minutes)
Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on June 25, 2004. Read the original PDF.