Search - Fahrenheit 9/11 on DVD

K. K. (GAMER)
Reviewed on 9/19/2022...

It's a real shame that Michael Moore started out interesting with his movies and then they went down the drain very quickly. Unfortunately, he kept making bad movies thinking people would like them. Some of us got sucked into watching his garbage!

The truth hurts at times

Dan Eberhardt | Summerville, SC United States | 08/06/2004

(5 out of 5 stars)

"its funny how most people say that this was a bit over hyped but according to the 9/11 commission report the facts are there..

The September 11 Commission's 567-page final report has confirmed key facts presented in Fahrenheit 9/11. These include:

Attorney General John Ashcroft told acting FBI director Thomas Pickard that he did not want to hear anything more about terrorist threats.  Confirmed, Commission Report at p. 265

After Bush was informed of the first plane hitting the World Trade Center, he went ahead with his classroom event.  After Bush was informed that the nation was under attack after the second plane hit, Bush stayed in the classroom for nearly seven more minutes, continuing to read with the children. Confirmed, Commission Report at pp. 35, 38-39.

Bush failed to have even one meeting to discuss the threat of terrorism with his head of counterterrorism Richard Clarke.  Confirmed, Commission Report at p. 201.

Bush failed to react to the August 6, 2001 security briefing, "Bin Laden Determined to Strike in U.S. Confirmed, Commission Report at pp. 260-262.

142 Saudis, including 24 members of the bin Laden family, were allowed to leave the country after September 13. Confirmed, Commission Report at p. 556, n. 25  [Note that Fahrenheit 9/11 understates the number of Saudis who left.]

Individuals were interviewed by the FBI before being allowed to leave (although the report confirms that most individuals on these flights were not interviewed.)  Confirmed, Commission Report at p. 557, n. 28.

White House former counterterrorism chief Richard Clarke approved these flights. Confirmed, Commission Report at p. 329.

It should also be noted that the 9/11 Commission does not address or deem important a number of other issues either addressed in Fahrenheit 9/11 or revealed since completion of the film, including:

What exactly was the rush in getting these individuals out of the country so soon after the worst attack in U.S. history, why did Saudi Royals and bin Laden family members receive such special treatment at a time when most Americans still could not get flights (even though airspace may have been open), and how exactly were the flights arranged by the U.S. government?

Several unanswered questions posed by Senator Byron Dorgan (D-ND) in a July 20, 2004, Grand Forks Herald column: "At a time when 14 of the 19 terrorists from Sept. 11 were Saudi citizens, how and why were six secret flights allowed to sneak 142 Saudi citizens out of the United States in the days after Sept. 11 before they were properly interrogated? How do we know they weren't properly questioned? Because Dale Watson, the No. 2 man and former head of counterterrorism at the FBI has said none of them were subjected to `serious' interrogation or questions before being allowed to leave.  In fact, we now know that at least two and perhaps more of the Saudis who were allowed to leave after Sept. 11 were under investigation by the FBI for alleged terrorist connections."

Information that came to light in Dana Milbank's July 22, 2004 Washington Post article, including the fact that at least one bin Laden family member who was allowed to leave lived with a nephew of Osama bin Laden, who "was involved in forming the U.S. branch of the World Assembly of Muslim Youth" (WAMY), which the FBI has described as "a suspected terrorist organization," and that the bin Ladens flew out of the country on the same airplane that "has been chartered frequently by the White House for the press corps traveling with President Bush.""

A film that brings out the best and worst in reviewers.

McCthulhu | Canada | 10/07/2004

(4 out of 5 stars)

"Firstly, I am not from the US. It seems to have become a hobby of Americans to wear their politics rather vocally on their sleeves. Looking up info about his film, if you're any kind of regular net-surfer, you will likely have seen verbal volleys directed back and forth between democratic supporters and republican supporters. What ends up happening is the equivalent of an elementary school name-calling contest rather than any discussion of the film as is. Yes, there are parts of this movie presented out of context. One example: When the Taliban visit Texas in this film, they were there by invitation from the Clinton administration, even though Bush is Texas governor. However, what works in this film is seeing a result of one presidential administration's decisions (and indecisions in one almost tragically comical scene) and its effects on people in two countries. The interspersal of Lila Lipscomb's patriotism to outrage to utter sadness are the most moving parts of this film. Seeing the effects of the war on those who were on the front lines and discovering what is never mentioned on US newscasts is a powerful series of images. The interviews with shell-shocked, amputee soldiers in rehab are frightening to behold, knowing that there are what is nearing 10,000 of these men returning to the USA, and to what kind of reception? Seeing Moore on the streets of DC telling members of congress to sign their adult children up for military service is hilarious to watch, especially seeing the reactions of the congressmen.

For me, all of these changes in mood, from disbelief, to horror, to unbounded laughter are what make this a 4 star film. Taking it in context of just a theater goer, and not a potential voter, make me agree with why this film won the Palm d'Or at the Cannes Festival. There are powerful messages here, despite personal politics and should be seen by anyone who is a citizen of this planet, not just the US."

Definitely A Must-See Movie For The Summer!

Barron Laycock | Temple, New Hampshire United States | 07/16/2004

(4 out of 5 stars)

"This film is a brilliantly-contrived and choreographed emotional roller coaster ride that incites a quite palpable resulting attitude of disgust, dismay, and disdain on the of the viewer. Mr. Moore manipulates the images, voice-overs and antics to both amuse and outrage us all at once, in an obviously outrageously satirical (and sometimes hysterical) look at the war in Iraq and the people who engineered us into invading that country, at terrible cost to ordinary American men and women. In essence that is the simple message of this pseudo-documentary; that simple, trusting and basically honorable young and patriotic Americans are being badly abused and misled by an administration and a government out of control, a government which, in Mr. Moore's view of the world, serves its people up to slaughter without worry and care. After all, it is not, as he so comically and memorably demonstrates, the sons and daughters of the governing elite who serve and die in God-forsaken places like Iraq and Afghanistan. Thus, in one chaotic series of vignettes, Moore corners unsuspecting Congressmen and makes a pitch to have them volunteer their kids as potential cannon-fodder for Iraq. Needless to say, the point is well taken, as only one current member of Congress has a son stationed in harm's way in Iraq. He counter-poses such banal images with those of battle casualties and struggling working class mothers crying over their lost sons after the fact. One must hasten to acknowledge that in fact, Michael Moore makes no pretense in the film of attempting to be balanced or fair; on the contrary, he is puzzled by the suggestion that he do so. After all, as he says, the opinions coming from the environs of the Oval Office have hardly been balanced or fair. And while one may argue that he has sometimes played fast and loose with the sequences of events, or the connections between various elements tied together in the movie, there are few outright falsehoods one can point to as an example of downright misrepresentation.He also quite cleverly puts the lie to the idea that protest or argument is somehow unpatriotic. This places an enormous burden on those who would argue one must remain silent in solidarity with the troops as a show of respect for their sacrifice. Yet it is hard to argue with Moore's logic that anyone who really cares about the welfare of the troops would take care not to misuse them or continue to place them needlessly or carelessly in harms' way. As James Bovard contends in his new book, suggesting, as Mr. Bush does continually, that by fighting the terrorists in Iraq we will avoid fighting them here, is at best an almost criminally naïve notion, and at worst, a cynical and murderous misrepresentation of what is going down in Iraq. We are not becessarily there to preserve their freedom or ours, argues Mr. Moore, and any suggestion that such is the case will have a hard time explaining events that now transpire on an almost daily basis. Moore's intent was to ratchet up debate on the policies and practices and rationale of the neo-conservative regime current in power, and to suggest that perhaps Americans begin to question it and its motives much more closely. Thus, despite it dramatic excesses or its willingness to sometimes take liberties in connecting things which may or may not indeed be so tied, I believe in creating public controversy and stirring public debate the movie will be a stunning success, and that it may well lead to having some measurable resulting political impact on the election in the fall. Enjoy!"