Fahrenheit 9/11 This is a film that will make U.S. citizens really think about what actually happened on September 11th, 2001 and what is still happening with our country. Whether viewers of this film are fans of Michael Moore’s work or not, he keeps viewers guessing throughout about what he is going too pursued upon them next. It is almost hard as a first time viewer of this documentary to believe everything that is provided throughout the film. Moore has ways of convincing his viewers into what he exactly wants them to believe but sometimes he is lacking the credibility of where this information is coming from. Obviously there are parts of the film that viewers cannot argue with, in cases where there is footage of political officials or general public talking on a certain subject. But at the same time Moore usually doesn’t include what he is always asking the interviewee, so once again is he just showing his audience what is needed to be heard in part will make the viewer believe in what he wants them to.
One of the most catching parts of the film as a viewer is Moore’s choice of music in particular scenes. While showing live clips he would play songs that take the scene to another level. He makes the viewer really focus on what he is trying to impose through the music playing in the background. As a viewer it is easy to see that when Moore is using a specific song in the scene it is simply adding to the situation that is being viewed. In all the cases whether it is some type of beat or tone, even those humorous songs playing he is intensifying the scene to keep the viewer intrigued. Right in the beginning of the film Moore is showing a blank black screen with just audio playing in the background. This audio is from ground zero when the planes where crashing into the twin towers. This patho was used to remind the viewers what actually happened on that day and how hard it was to watch, hence Moore not showing the footage. He did this because of how many times the American citizens had to view this in the first place. It wasn’t really necessary to make the viewers watch this once again so instead he just had the audio playing. In this clip Moore is definitely grabbing the attention of the viewers with the black screen showing and making the viewer picture what is happening through the audio that no one will soon forget. Throughout the film Moore is more or less bashing Bush and his administration and how they handled the 9/11 events. One of his main points in the film is the fact that why is the United States at war. What exactly are we fighting for? Well in a certain clip as a viewer I felt really connected with emotions when Moore was showing clips of the soldiers serving their duties in Iraq during the holidays. Personally it would be very painful to have a family member or friend overseas fighting in a war especially through the holidays. That is a time of gathering with close friends and family, and when somebody is missing from that it makes this much more difficult. Moore showed those clips to get his point across in showing the viewer why exactly our soldiers are over their fighting. And by showing the soldiers during the holidays while asking them how hard it actually is to be at war during those times really makes the viewer think about what it would be like. Towards the beginning Moore makes good use of a logo when he shows Bush celebrating and taking his countless vacations. At that point and time when he should have been focusing on what was going on with the terrorists. When he did in fact receive documented threats from them and no action was taken. This is mindboggling to know that Bush had actually known of the threat to the United States and it was more or less ignored by our President. Moore did in this scene make a lot of sense in so called “slamming” Bush because of his non reactions to what was documented and ready for him to look at but he did nothing to look into what was being threatened upon our country.
While Moore dose make some good points and reveals some interesting facts at the same time as a viewer it was hard to understand what he was trying to prove. Using logic thoughts, when he interviewed the Oregon state trooper it was confusing how an Oregon state trooper had anything to do with the war on terror and what was going on overseas. It is understood that times were tough and money was short in many areas of the country but in the end what did that trooper have to do with the war? Making points on the trooper never receiving a “how to catch a terrorist manual” makes no sense. Moore goes onto say that Bush would have never put something like that out because he already had the Americans brainwashed about what was really happening. Moore was just trying to add to the fact that Bush wasn’t doing his job and trying to cover things up but this clip was taking it a little too far, none of it made any sense while not even relating to the war. Just because the state of Oregon could only have six troopers on in the whole state doesn’t reflect what was/is going on with the war on terror.
Moore goes onto take a low blow as I seen it when he uses a clip of Britney Spears as a source of credibility when she is being interviewed on the war. She is simply asked if she supports her president and she responds very quickly that she does. Moore used this clip of her to show how extremely brainwashed our citizens were from what Bush was beating in every ones minds about how he will not back down until the job is done overseas. While at the same time many of the citizens were trying to pull together what our troops were exactly at war for in Iraq. As citizens watched our own soldiers being killed when in the end Iraq really didn’t do anything to us. Moore did achieve what he was after in showing the viewers that everyone had been brainwashed by Bush, but really? He couldn’t find anyone else more credible than Britney Spears to interview? In this country Britney Spears isn’t exactly someone that citizens of this country would stand behind and believe in what she’s saying.
Now on the other side of using a credible resource Moore did find a very reliable resource in the film when he interviews Lila Lipscomb. She was a proud parent to her son who was serving overseas in the war on terror. Moore shows her before and after her son was killed. She seems to be happy and a proud American citizen while supporting her son being enlisted in the army reserves. She goes on to say that it’s very opportunistic for younger people of the Flint, MI area to enlist and serve for their country. Moore then goes back and does another interview with Lila and her family after her son was killed. She then seems very unsure on why the United States is at war and what her son actually had gotten killed fighting for. Moore does really touch the viewers with this clip and really makes one realize if what is going on should in fact be happening. The biggest question is why is our country at war, that’s what Lila and her family are still searching for. Lila is one the few credible sources that is used throughout the film by knowing that one could hope that Moore kept everything true and nothing was changed to support his thoughts. By far as a viewer this was the most touching part of the film to watch. Not only does Lila and her family have unanswered questions about their son just think how many other families have/or are going through the same exact thing.
Knowing Moore’s past and how he does have his ways of lying to direct his films into making the viewer believe in what he wants you to one would hope that in most scenes he doesn’t do this. In the case of Lila and her family, something that deep it would be thought of that Moore would have the heart to keep everything truthful for her and her family’s sake. In the end as a viewer the film was scattered around and almost in a sense hard to follow at points. Moore moves around with his thought process when making his points throughout the film. At times he explains himself great and it is clear what he’s showing his viewers, at other times he doesn’t. Like him or not Moore will continue to do what he does for a living.