11 Years After Fahrenheit 9-11

I have often mentioned on this blog and elsewhere how my socio-political beliefs were at one point outside of the norm.  In some ways, they still are.  Yet I speak of course when after 911 nearly every person unaware of the truth had no hesitation to dive head first into endless wars and useless policy.  I specifically remember the 2002 mid-term elections, when the Republican Party not only gained back the full majority in the Senate; they also increased their governorships and their numbers in the House of Representatives.  It was a clear indication of an impending second front in a "war" of terror.  To say I was disappointed in the results would be an understatement. 

Yet, alongside the influx of movies and shows that provided allegorical truths the corporate media and the Cheney-Bush White House would never admit to: there was a documentary/social statement that when released began the changing of opinions on what had just happened.  Now, I think the full truth would have not gone over well for the vast majority of moviegoers.  Yet all it takes is to plant a seed in the minds of the populace for a greater truth to be discovered.  Michael Moore was that person who planted the seed, namely in his film Fahrenheit 911.  How important was Moore's documentary?  In my years of going to see movies in multiplexes, this might be the only time I went to a screening and it was sold out; unheard of for a documentary. 

And considering Michael Moore's previous documentary from 2002, Bowling for Columbine, did not get a wide release; seeing Fahrenheit 911 become financially successful was quite an amazing feat. Up to that point, Moore's films were given word of mouth mainly through the art-house circuit and video/DVD sales; not to mention the occasional TV airing.  Having said that, Michael Moore had already a pretty damn good track record.  Starting with Roger and Me, which presented the decline of Flynt, Michigan brought on my GM's cost cutting and outsourcing of jobs during the 1980s; Moore had brought an idea of using the film format as a way to make a statement.  While past influences such as Errol Morris focused on smaller scale issues that would nonetheless touch the human condition; I tend to think Michael Moore sought a bigger picture in focusing on both the low end and the high end of the totum pole.  That is to say, Moore is equally at ease with interviewing ordinary people as he is confronting and/or interviewing important figures.