csmonitor.com: A perfect storm of issue films

By David Sterritt
Film critic of The Christian Science Monitor

'Fahrenheit 9/11' is at the forefront of a slew of political documentaries.

A perfect storm of issue films | csmonitor.com: "Here's a free sample of dialogue from 'Fahrenheit 9/11,' the new Michael Moore documentary: 'Governor Bush, it's Michael Moore,' says the filmmaker. 'Behave yourself, will you?' answers George W. Bush, the Texas governor soon to become the American president. 'Go find real work!'
That exchange - though it took place long before Sept. 11 - shows how Mr. Moore could raise hackles even then by simply approaching one of the men of power he's made it his business to question.

Mr. Achbar, whose political documentary "Manufacturing Consent: Noam Chomsky and the Media" won numerous prizes in 1992, agrees.

"Dissident documentary-film culture ... is kind of like jello," he says. "The more you try to suppress it and push it down ... the more it's gonna ooze out between your fingers. "There's no stopping it." he adds. "There's so little of this kind of analysis in the mainstream that when it does become available, people pounce on it!"


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