Marin Independent Journal: Review: 'Fahrenheit 9/11' is clearly Moore v. Bush

Marin Independent Journal: "'WE'VE GOT A man of the people saying 'Keep hope alive.' We've got fuel to burn; we've got roads to drive,' roars Neil Young over the closing credits to 'Fahrenheit 9/11,' Michael Moore's cinematic attack on 'the fictitious president' and the 'fictitious war' he made famous in his Oscar acceptance speech of two years ago.

The closing credits are as good a place to start as any with 'Fahrenheit 9/11,' a film whose significance really begins when viewers leave the theater to do one of three things:

- rail against Moore's biased and out-of-context propaganda;
- rail against the Bush administration's sinister and corrupt political machine;
- go home depressed and polish off a bag of Funyuns in the dark.

Whether you agree with Moore's politics or not (and I'll say up front that, for the most part, I do), there's no denying the significance of 'Fahrenheit 9/11,' which is one of the few films in history that could have a direct bearing on a presidential election. Moore's hoping that bearing will be that George Bush is booted from the presidency. Whether the film has that kind of effect remains to be seen.

And although the Neil Young song in the closing credits was originally written about George Bush Sr., the song's "man of the people trying to keep hope alive" could very well be how Moore sees himself.

A man with fuel to burn and roads to drive."



By Jason Walsh
IJ reporter