THE SECOND COMING—AGAIN

ANOTHER MUST-SEE MOVIE MISSES THE MARK

What a year.

While not the equal in terms of Hollywood's Golden Era, 2004 has already brought us not one, but two “must see, life altering” films to the local bijou. The first of these to be unleashed was THE PASSION OF THE CHRIST-O-MATIC, the Mel Gibson box office phenomena that slices and dices more than all of the Ronco gadgets ever sold. Then, only six months or so later, we have Michael Moore's FARENHEIT 9/11 setting the all-time opening weekend record for a documentary—an equally undeserving accomplishment based upon what is actually on the screen during the film's 112 minute running time.

Now don't get me wrong; I am very happy for Mel's success. Putting money where his mouth was and sticking it to the myopic sucklings making go/no go decisions at the major studios tickles me to death. And I very much looked forward to Mr. Moore's supposedly unrelenting attack on the Bush Administration. Whether you like Moore or not, I anticipated that F 9/11 would be a cinematic coup d'etat which just might alter history given both the advance kudos and the advance cries of outrage. Alas, such is not the case.

David Edelstone wrote a very solid review which I read at slate.msn.com. His headline was “Proper Propaganda. Michael Moore's FARENHEIT 9/11 Is Unfair And Outrageous. You Got A Problem With That?” My personal answer is “No…I don't have a problem with that at all.” In fact, I'll even go so far as to call F 9/11 a respectable example of “Properganda”. Unfair—maybe. Outrageous—not really. Un-American—definitely not…simply consider this a perfectly proper counterattack to the pot shots broadcast daily on any number of conservative talk shows heard nationwide, perhaps chief among these is Mr. Rush-A-Dope and his Center for Egotistical Studies. What a joke…and if the Christian Religious Right wants to worship this fat, pasty face, drug addicted, imbecilic egomaniac, then there is certainly a place for Michael Moore to sit at the left-hand side of Godthefatheralmighty, even it is to the far, far left.

Some feared that F 9/11 would heavily influence the 2004 presidential elections. I have no doubt that was the intent, and I will concede there are some memorable scenes—Dubya's sitting stupor with the school children that lasted for seven full minutes after being told the second World Trade Center Tower had been attacked is one example that comes to mind. Talk about a deer in the headlights. Ditto for Moore's relentless pursuit of Congressmen attempting to persuade at least one to send his own son or daughter to Iraq. Several of these august representatives of the American people showed surprising speed as they ran for cover. I've seen less chicken shit at a Tyson's hen house.

But, all things considered, this is not a well-crafted effort. The film starts off slowly and, as in all of Moore's previous projects, it occasionally gets sidetracked and loses much of the momentum previously established. Truly powerful documentaries, truly effective propaganda productions never lose focus. Taking time to interview combat personnel and asking what music they like to listen to while in battle, for example, does absolutely nothing to support the underlying intent.

Where F 9/11 fails the most, however, is in Moore's restraint—yes, I said restraint. The film lacks punch and is actually far less incendiary than I anticipated. Much of what is presented has been seen before. And those segments which proffered new indictments of the Bush Administration usually failed to go for the jugular. The end result is that F 9/11 has as much chance of changing someone's entrenched point of view as that pesky Jehovah's Witness knocking at your door.

For comparison sake, take a look at any one of the seven “Why We Fight” propaganda films directed by Frank Capra during WWII under the auspicies of the United States War Department. Using mostly captured enemy footage, Capra effectively used the cinematic arts to foster our democratic ideals and to inform the world why the United States was at war. These films were first shown to the service men and women, then to the American public and, finally, to our allies (Russia included). With running times between 54 minutes and 83 minutes, Capra kept his focus on each topic addressed (PRELUDE TO WAR, THE NAZIS STRIKE, DIVIDE AND CONQUER, THE BATTLE OF BRITAIN, THE BATTLE OF CHINA , THE BATTLE OF RUSSIA and WAR COMES TO AMERICA). The end result was very effective—American propaganda at its finest enlightening both our entire nation and a host of allies just what it was we were fighting for.

In the final analysis, if Bush and the Boys (Condoleezza included) were upset with the criticism found in F 9/11, if Rush-a-Roo and his cronies were aghast and enraged, then they should have gone out and made their own propaganda piece. Come to think of it, a gaggle of semi-swift boatfarians did just that.