Farenheit 9/11

Ok, there's is a ton of debate going on over how false or how true this documentary is. I have heard convincing arguments from both sides over a few of the topics covered in this documentary, but a lot of the "debunking" of facts within here this film end up with "That issue has never been proven one way or the other 100% so it's a lie." or elevates into personal attacks on Moore himself. These arguements are the majority which I have read against this film which makes me cringe. It makes me cringe knowing that there are people out there who blindly follow our leadership without questioning whether or not choices being made are good for all of us as a whole. But I regress...this is a film review, not a political debate.

This documentary is done very well. I have never watched Roger & Me or Bowling For Columbine, but I will have to watch them now because this was brilliant. At one point, when first talking about the 9/11 attacks on the trade center, the screen goes black for what seems forever while all you hear is sirens and screams and explosions. I appreciate this because we all don't need to be fed that same footage that we have all seen over the last 3 years. We all know it by heart and even though the screen is blank, you know everyone in the audience is picturing the same thing you are. Except for that one kid that was sitting in front of me who kept looking back at the projector to see if there was something wrong with the film. The first half of the film goes over things such as the 2000 election, Bush's love of vacations, family ties to the Saudi royal family, various corporation links, and the "justification" for the war in Iraq. When we get to the second part of the film, we get a turn in style. The second half is mainly about the war in Iraq and Afghanistan. Mostly Iraq, though. We end up following a lady from Michigan as she vehemently defends her son joining the military and backing the war to her fullest, to learning of her sons death and eventually questioning why the nation's children are really over in Iraq dying. I guess you could say that it gets pretty emotional.

It's eye-opening, sad, funny, disturbing, and I'll even say it...very patriotic. It's patriotic because there's nothing wrong with questioning our government. That's what makes America great and that's what this country was founded on. And that's what this film does a great job of; questioning the current Bush administration's true intentions. If we didn't question our governments decisions, we might as well just have a dictatorship. Or maybe just have ruling control passed down through the Washington family tree like some kind of royal family, because why would we need to vote?
As an aside; I highly doubt you'll ever see two similar reviews on this film. You take out of it what you will and everyone will take out something a little different then the next person.

Anyway, I give it a 4.5 thumbs up out of a possible 5 thumbs (and I'm still pissed that I decided to go see Spiderman 2 over this originally).