'Fahrenheit 9/11' Earns $21.8 Million in Three Days

[JoseCuervo]

Republicans complain that Fahrenheit 9/11 is no more than a commercial for John Kerry and have approached the Federal Election Commission to classify the advertising of the scenes from the film as political, thus subject to rules that restrict broadcast of commercials. That is funny, because the Fox News Channel can be classified as a 24-hour commercial for George Bush, as can be hours and hours of haranguing of Kerry, Democrats and the liberals by Rush Limbaugh, Bob Grant, Sean Hannity and Michael Savage on the radio. Republicans know that only the converted are watching Fahrenheit 9/11 now. They know that if the big three -- CBS, NBC or ABC -- were to air the film before the election (very, very unlikely) that would be catastrophic for Bush. No one watching the movie can remain neutral. Republicans worry about viewers like Jerry Murrell, a retired stockbroker in Carmel, California and a Republican who voted for Bush in 2000: "All the offhand remarks they caught Bush making, he wasn't very presidential. My next vote is going to take a lot of thought." Said Monica Moody, a 20-year old conservative Republican: "After watching the film, I question his (Bush's) motive. I do question my loyalty to the president." Precisely the kind of effect Michael Moore had in mind!

LOVE IT OR HATE IT, Michael Moore's "Fahrenheit 9/11" challenges people to think hard about their country and their president -- and that makes it a must-see.

The film, which grossed a whopping $21.8 million its first weekend, is not popcorn-munching entertainment, nor factual documentary. It is Bush-bashing propaganda that offers fine training for sharpening one's critical eye and ear for the spin machines being generated by all candidates as the country moves toward a national election.

Whether sputtering or cheering, the "Fahrenheit 9/11" viewer should try to tamp down the obviously manipulated emotion and ask: "OK, what is Moore trying to do here? And do the dots really connect?"

Moore's attempt to link Saudi influence on President Bush with Osama bin Laden's escape is tenuous at best, and the suggestion that bin Laden family members got air passage out of the United States when all flights were grounded is not based on fact.

The stringing together of sound-bites and photo clips that make Bush look goofy could be done just as easily to John Kerry, or any candidate.

But Moore is devastatingly accurate in his depiction of the victims of war -- Iraqis weeping over relatives buried in rubble, a family terrified when soldiers invade their home, an American mother grieving the loss of her son, and wounded US soldiers screaming on stretchers.

The film rightly questions the Bush administration's justification for war, the politicizing of the terrorist threat, and the strictures on individual liberty in the US Patriot Act.

Moore is his sarcastic, outrageous self in this film, which was controversial even before it was in the can. People argued about why the Walt Disney Co. refused to allow subsidiary Miramax to release the movie. And there was static about whether Moore was hyping the controversy to generate publicity before the Cannes Film Festival, where he did win the Palme d'Or, the top prize.

Now the debate boils about why the movie is rated "R" -- no one under 17 admitted unless accompanied by an adult -- instead of PG-13. Most teens could probably handle the images.

Last week the conservative group Citizens United filed a complaint with the Federal Election Commission, insisting that the movie's television advertisements will violate campaign finance law if they continue to run after July 31. The law restricts corporations from buying time for campaign ads 30 days before a national political convention. The Republican National Convention is expected to nominate Bush on Sept. 1.

The FEC should toss that complaint, and probably will, under the First Amendment media exemption written into the law.

At least 12 other political movies are out or in production. Such is the intellectual richness of a free society, which should welcome them all, no matter who is pilloried or praised.

 

[cjcj]

Well Gunner, This seems fair and balanced. Good post.

 

[JoseCuervo]

CJ,

That is the whole point. Watch the movie, and decide what you agree with and what you disagree with. Engage in the national debate about Dubya and the war. Look at the human side and costs to the war that Dubya refuses to show. The closed mindedness of people on something as important as our elections is amazing.

Personally, I think we SHOULD support Michael Moore and many other independent film makers. I enjoy seeing movies that are "uncomfortable" to the 90% of the public that goes to the "Mega-Plex". And by showing Disney/Eisner what a mistake they did to try and censor a Documentary because of Dubya's pressure, we can embolden more filmmakers to address additional subjects.

Wouldn't you love to walk out of a theater feeling like your mind had been challenged, as opposed to feeling like you will be retaining water from the Popcorn? Look at Fairchase, you suggest the Garfield movie and he is in on it.

CJ,
What did you think about Bowling for Columbine? Did you laugh at the scene at K-Mart in Detroit, where he tried to return some ammunition???

 

[Nemont]

Engage in the national debate about Dubya and the war. Look at the human side and costs to the war that Dubya refuses to show. The closed mindedness of people on something as important as our elections is amazing.

EG,
Have you spent any time, at all, listening to the closed mindness on the other side. I think there is simply no understanding from the left of what is being done in the Middle East. Only the bad news make guys like you as well as Micheal Moore happy because of the closed minded approach to your thoughts on Bush.

Like I said before I am going to see it but I will take the time to see if all is true, I doubt Michael Moore could have such a successful movie by just telling the truth.

The guys I talked to that are, have been and are going to Iraq and Afganistan see it as their duty to go. None love it but all I have had contact with believe in their mission and their president.

But what do I know, I am just a closed minded conservative.

Nemont

 

[JoseCuervo]

Nemont,
It is interesting to see the comments from the soldiers in Iraq that Moore has in the movie. (I am sure he searched high and low for the "needle in the haystack"), but even if it is just a minority, don't they need their voice heard?

I don't want to spoil the movie for you, but I do not think Michael Moore has any problems with the Afghanastan thing being done, in fact, I got the impression that he thought the 11,000 troops was not enough, and if Dubya was serious about Bin Laden, he would have gone in stronger and succeeded. Instead, he just got rid of the Taliban, and Bin Laden (Public Enemy #1) continues roaming around. And then Dubya pulled resources off of Bin Laden, and sent them to Iraq.

Essentially, Moore attacks 100 issues in the movie. If all 100 are accurate I would be surprised. If none are accurate, I would be surprised. Therefore each person should decide what the number is, and if that is a number that is important to them.

Actually, by saying you will see the movie, it points you are not close-minded. My guess is you will be upset at some (I was), annoyed at some (I was), uncomfortable at some (I was), amused by some (I was), and leave the theatre thinking (I did). Nothing wrong with that,.

 

[Ithaca 37]

I heard that Michael Moore rides an ATV.

 

[Calif. Hunter]

Well, he is definitely a FAT ASS!

 

[Michaelr]

And i caught flack for quoting sheriff Mike??????????

elkgunner dont ever say another word about Sheriff Mike. He is a saint compared to that puke Moore

[ 07-01-2004, 16:33: Message edited by: michaelr ]

 

[JoseCuervo]

Gosh Michael, I thought you were the one that didn't like the personal attacks/comments in SI....

I think the difference between Moore and the fat sherriff is that Moore has an audience and a message, where the former sherriff just has powdered sugar from his doughnuts.

And please show me where I quoted Moore. I am just encouraging people to go see the show, so they can have an intelligent opinion.

Michael, have you seen any of Moore's movies? Which ones? What did you think? How about his books, did you read them? Or do you just know, from listening to AM radio that he is evil?

 

[FAIRCHASEBEN]

Elkgunner ,
What's with all the fluff ?
Ever since the Garfield posts your tone has changed to a more positive debate .
Before it was " required viewing " now you're " just encouraging people to see the show " .
It went from " factual documentary " to " Bush-bashing propaganda " .
The Garfield comment wasn't nearly as poignant as the Spongebob Squarepants line .
Regardless , I'm glad to see you're in a better mood .
But I still don't understand how we will become enlightened or open-minded by seeing a film made by such a hate filled , radical , anti-American , one-sided extremist like Micheal Moore ?
Extremism closes the door to positive debate !

Micheal Moore is a load that should have been swallowed .

 

[Muledeer4me]

"Quote: Making political decisions by watching a Micheal Moore film is like studying oceanography by watching Spongebob Squarepants."


ROFLMAO

 

[FAIRCHASEBEN]

I love it ! credibility test score ;
Spongebob 3
Micheal Moore 1

 

[Calif. Hunter]

CBS News Anchor Dan Rather, NPR Reporter Cokie Roberts, and a U.S. Marine were hiking through the desert one day when they were captured by Iraqis. They were tied up, led to the village and brought before the leader.

The leader said, "I am familiar with your western custom of granting the condemned a last wish. Before we kill and dismember you, do you have any last requests?"

Dan Rather said, "Well, I'm a Texan, so I'd like one last bowlful of hot, spicy chili."

The leader nodded to an underling who left and returned with the chili. Rather ate it all and said, "Now I can die content."

Cokie Roberts said, "I'm a reporter to the end. I want to take out my tape recorder and describe the scene here and what's about to happen. Maybe someday someone will hear it and know that I was on the job 'til the end."

The leader directed an aide to hand over the tape recorder, and Roberts dictated some comments. She then said, "Now I can die happy."

The leader turned and said, "And now, Mr. U.S. Marine, what is your final wish?"

"Kick me in the ass," said the Marine."

"What?" asked the leader. "Will you mock us in your last hour?"

"No, I'm not kidding. I want you to kick me in the ass," insisted the Marine.

So the leader shoved him into the open, and kicked him in the ass. The Marine went sprawling, but rolled to his knees, pulled a 9-mm pistol from inside his cammies, and shot the leader dead. In the resulting confusion, he leapt to his knapsack, pulled out his M4 carbine, and sprayed the Iraqis with gunfire. In a flash, the Iraqis were dead or fleeing for their lives.

As the Marine was untying Rather and Roberts, they asked him, "Why didn't you just shoot them? Why did you ask them to kick you in the ass?"

What!?" said the Marine, "And have you liberal assholes call ME the aggressor?"


I guess some of the folks here wanted us to wait for Saddam to kick us in the ass.... or Al Qaida to kick us again....

 

[Tom]

He was trying to kick us in the ass everyday of his life, the Al Qaida still are trying, but troops and intelligence people throughout the world are chasing them around making it hard for them to train more and plan more major attacks.

Even the Saudi's see how bad the extremist Islam terrorists are now, they are helping kill them, capture them, and stop them.

Thanks to Bush's actions.

 

[Calif. Hunter]

 

[Calif. Hunter]

 

[Calif. Hunter]

 

[JoseCuervo]

Cali,

Great finds, good to see you spending that much time drumming up even MORE publicity for Michael Moore. He has obviously raised the nation's conscience as you prove.

Why not go spend the time WATCHING the movie? Are you afraid that there might be some truth in the movie? Would you think less of Dubya, if you found out some of the charges levyed by Moore against Dubya are true? Or are you so blindly devoted to Dubya, that you will tolerate any of his actions?

 

[Tom]

Why not go spend the time WATCHING the movie?
He's not into that crap.

See 56 deceipts of it.
http://www.davekopel.com/Terror/Fiftysix-Deceits-in-Fahrenheit-911.htm


Are you afraid that there might be some truth in the movie? No.

Would you think less of Dubya, if you found out some of the charges levyed by Moore against Dubya are true? Yes.

Or are you so blindly devoted to Dubya, that you will tolerate any of his actions? No.

That would be my guess for his answers.

 

[Hangar18]

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A19320-2004Jun30.html (requires registration)

Just another column on the film, by Richard Cohen of the Washington Post.

Baloney, Moore or Less

By Richard Cohen
Thursday, July 1, 2004; Page A23


I brought a notebook with me when I went to see Michael Moore's "Fahrenheit 9/11" and in the dark made notes before I gave up, defeated by the utter stupidity of the movie. One of my notes says "John Ellis," who is a cousin of George W. Bush and the fellow who called the election for Fox News that dark and infamous night when the presidency -- or so the myth goes -- was stolen from Al Gore, delivering the nation to Halliburton, the Carlyle Group and Saudi Arabia, and plunging it into war. A better synopsis of the movie you're not likely to read.

Ellis appears early in the film, which is not only appropriate but inevitable. He is the personification of the Moore method, which combines guilt by association with the stunning revelation of a stunning fact that has already been revealed countless times before. If, for instance, you did a Lexis-Nexis database search for "John Ellis" and "election," you would be told: "This search has been interrupted because it will return more than 1,000 documents." The Ellis story is no secret.

But more than that, what does it mean? Ellis is a Bush cousin, Moore tells us. A close cousin? We are not told. A cousin from the side of the family that did not get invited to Aunt Rivka's wedding? Could be. A cousin who has not forgiven his relative for a slight at a family gathering -- the cheap gift, the tardy entrance, the seat next to a deaf uncle? No info. And even if Ellis loved Bush truly and passionately, as a cousin should, how did he manage to change the election results? To quote the King of Siam, is a puzzlement.

I go on about Moore and Ellis because the stunning box-office success of "Fahrenheit 9/11" is not, as proclaimed, a sure sign that Bush is on his way out but is instead a warning to the Democrats to keep the loony left at a safe distance. Speaking just for myself, not only was I dismayed by how prosaic and boring the movie was -- nothing new and utterly predictable -- but I recoiled from Moore's methodology, if it can be called that. For a time, I hated his approach more than I opposed the cartoonishly portrayed Bush.

The case against Bush is too hard and too serious to turn into some sort of joke, as Moore has done. The danger of that is twofold: It can send fence-sitters moving, either out of revulsion or sympathy, the other way, and it leads to an easy and facile dismissal of arguments critical of Bush. During the Vietnam War, it seemed to me that some people supported Richard Nixon not because they thought he was right but because they loathed the war protesters. Beware history repeating itself.

Moore's depiction of why Bush went to war is so silly and so incomprehensible that it is easily dismissed. As far as I can tell, it is a farrago of conspiracy theories. But nothing is said about multiple U.N. resolutions violated by Iraq or the depredations of Saddam Hussein. In fact, prewar Iraq is depicted as some sort of Arab folk festival -- lots of happy, smiling, indigenous people. Was there no footage of a Kurdish village that had been gassed? This is obscenity by omission.

The case against Bush need not and should not rest on guilt by association or half-baked conspiracy theories, which collapse at the first double take but reinforce the fervor of those already convinced. The success of Moore's movie, though, suggests this is happening -- a dialogue in which anti-Bush forces talk to themselves and do so in a way that puts off others. I found that happening to me in the run-up to the war, when I spent more time and energy arguing with those who said the war was about oil (no!) or Israel (no!) or something just as silly than I did questioning the stated reasons for invading Iraq -- weapons of mass destruction and Hussein's links to Osama bin Laden. This was stupid of me, but human nature nonetheless.

Some of that old feeling returned while watching Moore's assault on the documentary form. It is so juvenile in its approach, so awful in its journalism, such an inside joke for people who already hate Bush, that I found myself feeling a bit sorry for a president who is depicted mostly as a befuddled dope. I fear how it will play to the undecided.

For them, I recommend "Spider-Man 2."

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