The Toronto Star.com - 9/11 film places real issues in spotlight

TheStar.com - 9/11 film places real issues in spotlight: "Michael Moore has been called a slimeball and an America-hater.
And earlier this month, with his anti-Bush documentary breaking box office records, a CNN anchorwoman implied that Moore is nothing but an egomaniac, dismissively noting that he's 'finally getting what he's wanted all along - attention.' (An odd charge coming from someone whose career is built around getting TV face time.)
But the lowest blow in the effort to discredit Michael Moore may be the attempt to compare his intriguing new film, Fahrenheit 9/11, to Mel Gibson's turgid, melodramatic The Passion of the Christ.
'Gibson and Moore - two sides of the same coin? Absolutely,' wrote Andrew Sullivan in a commentary in Time magazine. 'Both movies are ... deeply corrosive of the possibility of real debate and reason in our culture.'
Now, one can criticize Michael Moore's methods or challenge his facts, but it's just downright silly to accuse him of corroding the possibility of real debate.
Hell, the media shut down real debate long ago.

Gibson's film could be said to answer the question: What does a man look like after being beaten to a pulp for hours on end?

Moore's film, on the other hand, poses the more pressing question: What might the world look like after four more years of George Bush?"


LINDA MCQUAIG
The Toronto Star