7/8/2004 - Fahrenheit 9/11

Truth.

What is truth?

I'm sure George W. Bush has a different idea of truth and honesty than most people. I knew that before I saw Michael Moore's Fahrenheit 9/11.

But it's nice to know that in Moore, a vast amount of people have finally found a voice. Through him and his courage to take on the US Government in a feature-length documentary, those millions of regular people, who might have always suspected that something was fishy with Bush, are finally getting their say. People like - me.

"Fahrenheit" is an uncensored, brutally clear, and astoundingly logical account of what happens when an elitist president abuses his power for sly personal financial gain, and with total disregard for his country's people - those people he is supposed to protect and nurture, but instead sacrifices in a war that only benefits him, his family, and his friends.

Phrases like "I'm a War President", uttered (or should that be "stuttered"?) by a proud Bush during an interview, or his joking reference to the Republican voter base at an upper-crust black-tie ball "Some call you the elite - I call you my base" - they stick with you well after you've left the theater.

Even more memorable is the look on Bush's face though while he sits on a chair in a Florida classroom during a photo op on the morning of September 11, 2001 - and after he's just been told that two planes crashed into the Twin Towers. A look of complete and total blankness. No compassion. Nothing. He just sits there, for minutes on end, looking like a man who is completely clueless. He takes no action. He just sits there.

Never has a man looked less like the most powerful leader in the world. And never has a man deserved less respect for being just that.

But "Fahrenheit" is not just about slamming Bush. It's about much, much more - about corporate greed, a senseless war, a corrupt and biased media, the class-divided society America's wealthy have created to facilitate their suppression of the lower and middle classes - and about grief so deep and so real, it jumps off the screen, slaps you in the face, and leaves you humbled and in tears.

Whether you hear the screams of horror from onlookers in the 9/11 attacks; see an Iraqi woman cry to Allah and wail "Why?" after her child has been killed by American soldiers; or you watch the mother from Flint, Michigan, (who had so proudly urged her son to join the military) break down in front of the White House lawn and curse Bush after she lost her son in the Iraqi war - you feel their pain, and you know whatever and whoever is to blame for this, is just plain wrong and evil.

I left the theater last night, feeling angry and betrayed. I've never been one to get particularly patriotic (for one because I'm not an American citizen, but mostly because I don't agree with the politics here) but last night I realized that 98% of this country's population - independend of their political opinion - had been duped by one powerful man and his friends - and the sheer injustice of it made me sick.

At the same time though, I also felt a spark of hope - hope that this movie's message could have the power to change a few minds. Hope that it might sway some voters from casting their ballot for anybody else but Bush this Fall - and save us all from another 4 years of injustice and war.

And I also felt a certain satisfaction in the knowledge that the truth was out. It was there for everyone to see - if only they wanted to see it.

Whatever left-wing agenda Michael Moore can be accused of pushing - George W. Bush's own words and facial expressions speak an unedited truth that transcends opinion or polictial orientation.

You have to see and hear it yourself for you to be able to can cast your vote this Fall with a good conscience.