St. Paul Pioneer Press | Liberals have a lock on movie documentaries

St. Paul Pioneer Press | 07/08/2004 | Liberals have a lock on movie documentaries: "The documentary boom couldn't have come at better or worse time for the November presidential election, depending on your candidate of choice.
A number of documentaries, most of them politically left-of-center, are heading into theaters. And, just as conservative radio programs haven't generated much liberal radio response, liberal documentaries don't seem to have led to a cinematic response from conservatives.
Leading the charge is Michael Moore, with 'Fahrenheit 9/11,' the anti-war, anti-George W. Bush film he says he made to affect the November presidential election. 'Fahrenheit' earned $23.9 million to become the top-grossing doc of all time in just one weekend of release.
'These are mind-blowing numbers,' Moore told journalists Monday. An informal poll of opening-weekend viewers in the Twin Cities suggested that most of them were sympathetic to Moore. But the filmmaker cites the box office as proof his movie is influencing the national debate. 'All of the predictions that the movie would only speak to the choir, would only be for those who don't like Bush, I don't think have turned out to be true.'
'Fahrenheit' isn't the first documentary that takes issue with Dubya - 2002's 'Horns and Halos' was largely concerned with uncovering the truth about Bush's alleged drug usage. But it is the first movie specifically timed to, as Moore has said, change undecided voters to non-Bush voters. Moore, who supported Ralph Nader in the 2000 election, has apparently not picked a candidate this time, but his Web site includes a link to www.NotBush.com."

Control Room Director Jehane Noujaim
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BY CHRIS HEWITT
Pioneer Press