F911 is Overrated

I’m still waiting to be blown away. I went to the 12:01 a.m. screening of F911 on the day it opened. I couldn’t wait. Two hours later, I left the theater with a vague sense of disappointment. Michael Moore’s firebombing of the Bush administration is damn good propaganda and a much-needed public service. But, F911 is not Moore’s best movie. Bowling for Columbine is. In Bowling, Moore takes his audience on a wild ride through the underside of America as he tries to tease out an answer to an unknowable question: why is this country so damn violent?

In F911, Moore already has an answer – George W. Bush is a scheming, mean-spirited bumbler who should be voted out of office – and he wants to make you agree. Of course, if you haven’t been paying attention over the past 3 1/2 years, you’re in for some rude surprises. Military recruiters prey on poor kids. War degrades everyone it touches and is a source of unbearable agony to both Iraqi and American mothers who lose their children. The “War on Terror” is a put on to distract people while the politically-connected U.S. oil industry make a desperate lunge for control of the last of the world’s major oil reserves. And Bush loves the rich (“Some call you the elite. I call you my base,” he jokes at a black-tie fundraiser) just like his daddy loves those Saudi princes.

Whether Bush wins or loses, he will have the support of the roughly 40-50% of American voters who fervently share his belief in the U.S.’s unlimited right to dominate the world. Why?

I hope Moore explores this in the future. If so, he will pick up where he left off with Bowling for Columbine.