I thought I'd chuck in my tuppence on this film, since there seem to be plenty of politically aware types on the board - but I don't think I can genuinely give an objective overview. Familiar as I was with the majority of Moore's allegations levelled at the Bush (mk2) presidency, the second half of the movie veered off the usual catalogue of Bush's hijacking of the highest political office in the free world and his ties to Saudi oil families (the Bin Ladens in particular), and instead concentrated on the plight of US marines and their families. The sight of Lila Lashcomb in tears as she relates the story of her son's death in Iraq isn't one that's going to leave me for some time. Moore covers the same territory as Bowling For Columbine in his assertion that corporate interests need a frightened populace to encourage them to consume and keep the economy healthy, but quickly moves into other, more emotionally charged territory when he begins to chart the destruction of lower-class American communities (particularly African-Americans)and their exploitation by the ruling class American elite.
Like I say, it's hard to be objective about something that makes you angry in the way this documentary does - the treatment of the freedoms upon which the democratic principles of America were founded and sustained is truely blood-boiling. I defy anyone to walk away without SOME image sticking in the mind, be it the ridiculous anti-terror propaganda that makes Brass Eye look like a documantary, or the mutilation of charred and blackened American corpses by baying mobs of Iraqis.
One thing I didn't like about Bowling For Columbine was Moore's doorstepping of Charlton Heston. Held up as the highpoint of the movie, I always thought that verbally outsmarting a man with Parkinson's Disease wasn't the best way to prove a point. Farenheit 911 doesn't have any such scenes, simply battering you with scene after scene of things that either make you angry or put a lump in the throat - it might be argued that the viewer is being manipulated, but everything the viewer sees is real and demonstrable fact, rather than the half-truths and mud-slinging preferred by the right-wing media Moore has issues with.
About the only really bad thing I can say about the movie is that it'll only end up preaching to the choir. If you're a really committed conservative/republican type, you're going to have issues with the film and are unlikely to be swayed by the arguements raised, and if you're a liberal type, you'll probably already be familiar with much of the subject matter. I'd say most boarders will already have made up their minds about whether or not they'll go see this, but if you're wavering on the issue, I can only reccommend it, as it packs more of an emotional punch than anything else you'll watch in the cinema this year.
Unless you're a REALLY big Spider-man fan, obviously.
