Fahrenheit 9/11 and How Conservatives Lie About History
By: Harrison Engstrom
Tags: Michael Moore, Politics, Documentary, Movies, 9 11 Attacks

Michael Moore has been one of my favourite documentarians for a long-time. I fell in love with his work in 2002 — a time in which the only two films I watched back to back was Bowling for Columbine and Donnie Darko. I was 11 at the time and while I didn’t fully understand both films, I definitely felt something watching them. A cynicism and darkness that I only really “got” in my early 20s.

Nearly 20 years later, one still holds up while the other definitely does not. That being said, I definitely never really got Fahrenheit 9/11 until this year. I had tried watching it upon release and had felt so unhappy with the film as it was more fact than wacky skits like the previous film. It was less partisan going after both Democrats and Republicans. Sure, it was more narrowly focused on Bush and the War Effort and how both were failing completely. It was too serious and I didn’t like it. It wasn’t Bowling for Columbine — it wasn’t the Awful Truth and my 13 year-old brain couldn’t handle it.

So for years I wrote it off and many of Moore’s other documentaries being “ehhh not for me” and even bringing up the (old) Woody Allen excuse claiming “I liked his old funny movies better”. Bowling for Columbine, for all its flaws, is a brilliant time capsule of an era which truly will never exist again in America — or Western Culture for that matter. A hopeful and sarcastic, yet ultimately hopeless look at America’s racial and cultural biases when it comes to the self-inflicted devastation that spills through its own nation and eventually overseas. A culture of fear, racism and uncertainty that permeates every part of American society but ultimately trickles down like Reaganomics and affects those who are the poorest in their community. It’s distressing to even think about how little has changed since that documentary has been released.

While working on that documentary about gun control, Moore himself lost a good friend, Bill Weems, during the 9/11 attacks. Weems was on Flight 175 which hit the South Tower on September 11th. During the attacks, Moore himself was working on the final interviews for the film, which would be shown during Cannes, less than a year later. The attack itself is featured in Bowling, specifically the flight Weems was on, during the documentary. It closes the “What a Wonderful World” sequence — a truly memorable and horrifying look at America’s hypocritical ties to the Middle East and South America leading up to the attacks. While the film did go on to win an Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature at the 2003 Academy Awards, people forget the initial reception it received. While applauded and praised at Cannes, back home it was not a similar story. Even during his Oscar acceptance speech for the film, many booed Moore for calling out Bush and his cronies for starting an unnecessary war. I think of this moment all the time when someone brings up “the Hollywood Elite”.

During the ceremony, the calling of Moore’s name is a triumphant one. Most of the Kodak Theatre are up on their feet and clapping the man who may just save America yet. There are close ups of Marty Scorsese, Meryl Streep, future dual Oscar winner Renee Zellweger and even Moore’s own producer and now disgraced producer, Weinstein, adjusts his jacket proudly, as Moore takes centre stage with his (former) wife and production team. After Moore thanks his crew, he praises his fellow Documentary nominees, who he’s asked to attend the stage — something I don’t think I’ve seen in Oscars history, at least not since the Moonlight/La La Land incident. Some real king shit.

Then Moore goes into a monologue about how him and his fellow creators love Non-Fiction and how they live in a time “with fictitious election results that elect fictitious presidents. We live in a time when we have a man sending us to war for fictitious reasons.” At 1:20 of the video of Moore’s acceptance speech, you clearly hear some rich dipshit yell out “No!” during the speech before people break out in a mix of boos and applause. It’s the most polarizing acceptance speech of the last 20 years. Future one-time SNL Host, star of Brodyquest and Oscar Winner, Adrien Brody is shown to look around at the crowd and not say a damn thing. We see a wide shot as Moore shouts “shame on you Mr. Bush” and from Denzel Washington to Nicole Kidman, not a single round of applause amongst them. Cowards. All of them. They eventually play Moore off and it’s funny as it is tragic. Many lauded Columbine for being exploitative, lacking focus and many people making their own mediocre parodies and documentaries to call out Moore and his hypocrisy — something Moore himself has addressed in more recent years. It’s by no means a perfect documentary, nor film, but one that I revisit often and a style which I really enjoy to this day.