[lbo-talk] Comment on F-9/11 - Reality Check

[Dennis Perrin]

Saw "F-9/11" yesterday, and don't have much to add to what's been said (esp
since Kel really nailed it in her review). I got very emotional through much
of the Iraq footage (so much so that I yelled "Fuck you!" at the screen when
that ditz Britney Spears brainlessly backed Bush -- stupid & pointless, I
know, and I've never done that before, but then, so many other people where
doing the same thing during my screening that I didn't stand out), and
pretty much lost it when Lila read the letter from her son. Moore may have
manipulated my emotions to a degree, but I was angry going in, and hardly
blind to what's going on in this country at the moment.

It kills me that people like Hitch pan the movie as "lies" and "fiction."
One can quibble about the amount of wealth the Saudis own in the US, and so
on; but did Moore hire actors to play Marine recruiters and set them loose
in that Wal-Mart parking lot? Did he brainwash the poor of Flint to talk the
way they do? Were those fake captions under that grieving Iraqi mother? And
those Riefenstahl comparisons are idiotic for the obvious reasons. The mass
flocking to this film shows that it's people like Hitch who are elitist and
out of touch. Millions of Americans want answers, regardless of politics.
People are confused, angry and afraid. Moore has his own agenda, sure, but
to compare "9/11" to "Triumph of the Will" is contemptible.

By the way, I do not recommend watching a movie like that just before you
have to perform comedy. I went from the movie to the "Jobs Not War in 2004"
benefit, downed a pint of Pilsner, went onstage and improvised for the first
few minutes, pissed off and saddened. (I had come up with a joke about
Spears on the way to the gig, saying that after seeing her in "9/11," I
would longer jack off to her pictures. The organizer of the event laughed,
then suggested that it would not fly with some of the more PC elements in
the audience. Looking the room over, I agreed with her.) The crowd wasn't
into the improv at all, but thankfully, I had some tested scripted material
ready, and the set proved to be a success.

DP