Jon Johanning wrote:
> The main thing I learned from it that I did not know before was the
> scene in Congress when Bush's election was being certified; a petition
> to stop or delay it got a lot of Representatives' signatures and
> needed at least one Senator's signature, but no Senator was willing to
> sign it. Moore showed one black Representative after another standing
> up and saying she or he had signed it and bitterly complaining that no
> Senators had; after each one, Gore, who was presiding, officiously
> asked if a Senator had signed. "No." "Petition denied."
Yes. Indeed. Might make some question the Democratic party alternative.
I saw it tonight (Sat) in a San Leandro theater. San Leandro is a working class city, just south of Oakland. Could not see it either in Oakland or Berkeley because every single showing was sold out. I tried to get tickets this morning at my neighborhood theater, but all except the very late performances were sold out. So, we headed to San Leandro. Although we were able to get tickets 45 minutes before the 7:15 showing, by the time we got there, the theater was full.
I thought it was the best movie Moore has made to date. Tightly and well constructed, little ego, good quotes and pretty well edited. Good soundtrack. Most impressive was the end of the movie, when Moore actually talks about war from a class perspective. Amazing!!! Least impressive was the beginning of the movie with a lot of logical loose ends about Sauds/Bin Laden/Bin Laden's family/Bushies.
At the end of the movie, the largely working class audience applauded -- the atmosphere seemed solemn and quiet/subdued throughout the showing. No guffaws, no self-righteousness. All in all, a good sign.
I think this movie will have an impact. I noticed the reviews were restrained and unwilling to talk about the movie as a political reality. We'll see. The weakest part of the movie, as is the weakest part of contemporary political discussion, is the absence of any discussion of racism -- racism, its continuation and its many changing shapes, seems to elude just about everyone. Chuck Grimes had an excellent post on it a couple of weeks ago, but his is a lone voice.
Joanna