He is a lover of his country who rebukes and does not excuse its sins. – Frederick Douglass

So I feel the need to review Fahrenheit 9/11 because I’ve read many of its critiques and I strongly disagree with most of them.
The movie is powerful in two ways. The first is by showing clips of the events that occurred on September 11, 2001. I haven’t seen the media coverage of it since that day so the impact was astounding. Yes, the news is constantly showing video clips and pictures of the day, but they’re all edited. The images on television that morning were far from polished. No one knew what was going on and therefore no one knew what to videotape. The screams are real. The blinding dust, running masses, and falling buildings were all too real. What’s seen on television today, however, is snips of the day usually with no sound or with only the vaguest pictures (typical of American history textbooks).

Michael Moore need only run 2 hours of footage from that morning and it would open the eyes of any viewer. Maybe it would repeat history and reinstate a sense of patriotism in the nation. But instead of rallying behind the president, we rally against.

The second way this movie is powerful is through Moore’s uncharacteristic silence during its second half. Yes, the first half is filled with statistics and facts that you may feel free to analyze and rip apart. But critics seem to ignore the second half which is nothing more than a video camera in front of a pro-war family ripped apart by war and soldiers showing both their emotions but also their atrocities. You can hate Moore, hate liberals, hate Democrats, etc etc…but how can anyone ignore those images?

Overall, I enjoyed the content of the movie. The style of it, however, seemed a little choppy and rough around the edges which distracted me from the content at times. I would still recommend this film to anyone, Republican or Democrat, because these images are real. There are moments in which–like Bowling For Columbine–Moore may have tweaked the truth or used creative editing, but most of the footage is pure, blunt, and like a brick to the face.

Anything other than mad, passionate love is just a waste of time. There are too many mediocre things in this world to deal with; love shouldn’t have to be one of them. –Dream for an Insomniac