After the opening credits of Fahrenheit 9/11, Michael Moore demonstrates that he can make a film, not just tag around with a camera and make a pest of himself. He brings us back to the events of September 11 with nothing but a black screen and a sound track of the planes making impact on the towers.

His muckraking effort is uneven, but it scores points on its chosen targets—some of them unexpected. For instance, Moore chides the 50 Democratic members of the 2000 Senate for failing to join House members in (the largely symbolic) objection to the Electoral College results. In an interview with Rep. John Conyers, Jr., he makes it clear that both sides of the aisle lacked diligence in reviewing the USA Patriot Act legislation. He uses interviews with Rep. Jim McDermott to explore the climate of fear engendered during this administration by the Act and the much-publicized terrorism alert levels.

But it is George W. Bush and his advisors that take the greatest force of Moore's scattershot investigative satire. Even though he finds soft targets for ridicule (outtakes and footage of Dick Cheney, Condoleezza Rice, et al. being made up for TV appearances), and some of his bits are embarrassingly crude (the Coalition of the Willing segment, in particular), other passages are gems. Underscoring Bush's "Mission Accomplished" photo op with the theme music from the TV comedy "The Greatest American Hero" is a priceless bit of cinema. And Moore backs up his claim that the Bush contingent is perhaps illegitimately close to the leadership of Saudi Arabia through interviews with Craig Unger, author of House of Bush, House of Saud. Moore resorts to the "I don't know about you..." setup for a dig only once, by my count.

Bush appears in a clip from somewhere deep in the 1970's; the man was a ringer for Chevy Chase!

Footage of civilian and military casualties from the ongoing Iraq War is brutally graphic. It's passages like this, where Moore just gets out of the way and lets his film tell the story, where he is most effective. He is at his best when he gives a voice to the soldiers serving in Iraq, in their bravado and uncertainty, and to their families, in their pride and in their grief.

posted: 7:38:51 PM  

Theater friend Jay Tilley has entered the blogosphere. Jay is very upbeat; he almost always has something positive to say about you.

posted: 6:01:05 PM  

Gothamist is playfully indignant over the architectural solecisms in the new Spider-Man movie.

Reminds me of the prideful harrumphing from my Japanese-American aunt who was watching a cheap WW II movie: "Those aren't Japanese soldiers! They're Chinese! And Koreans!"

posted: 1:13:00 PM