The New York Times : 'Fahrenheit 9/11': Unruly Scorn Leaves Room for Restraint, but Not a Lot

The New York Times > Movies > Movie Review | 'Fahrenheit 9/11': Unruly Scorn Leaves Room for Restraint, but Not a Lot:

"Respect for the president is a longstanding American tradition and one that is still very much alive, as the weeklong national obsequies for Ronald Reagan recently proved. But there is also an opposing tradition of holding up our presidents, especially while they are in office, to ridicule and scorn.

Which is to say that while Michael Moore's 'Fahrenheit 9/11' will be properly debated on the basis of its factual claims and cinematic techniques, it should first of all be appreciated as a high-spirited and unruly exercise in democratic self-expression. Mixing sober outrage with mischievous humor and blithely trampling the boundary between documentary and demagoguery, Mr. Moore takes wholesale aim at the Bush administration, whose tenure has been distinguished, in his view, by unparalleled and unmitigated arrogance, mendacity and incompetence.

Through it all, Mr. Moore provides sardonic commentary, to which the soundtrack adds nudges and winks.

The film can be seen as an effort to wrest clarity from shock, anger and dismay, and if parts of it seem rash, overstated or muddled, well, so has the national mood.

It is worth seeing, debating and thinking about, regardless of your political allegiances."

By A. O. SCOTT
New York Times