I went to see Michael Moore's Fahrenheit 9/11 last night with a friend. We bought the tickets earlier in the day online, but wasn't able to go the normal theater we go to because all the shows were already sold out. When we arrived at the theater, the place was packed and all the show times for that evening were completely sold out. No other movie was sold-out. People were coming out in force to see this flix. I guess it's not too surprising considering all the hype.

The best way to describe how I feel about the movie is to quote an exchange I had with an older woman in the parking lot. I was rambling to my friend about the movie and she interrupted:

Woman: “So it didn't change your mind?”

Me: “I hate Bush and I love Michael Moore, but he didn't have to stretch the truth and lie so much.”

Woman: “And the 'other side' doesn't do that all the time?”

Me: “That doesn't mean he had to as well.”

I admire the goal of the film: to expose people to the lies of the Bush Administration and encourage people to vote. Sadly many people who see the movie are going to take Moore's work as a truthful documentary. It's far from a documentary and it takes some strong liberties with the truth. Moore consistently attempts to leave viewers with messed up and unfair inferences. What's sad is there is so much to hang Bush with, yet Moore got lazy and decided instead to play with the facts.

Sadly another problem is Moore has trouble telling a story. In his films, in my option, he has never done a good job telling a story. Yeah, I guess that's the nature of documentaries, but it's not a documentary when you have an agenda and unfairly inject way too much of your point of view.

Honestly, I'm a fan of Moore. I read all his stuff and I enjoy it, but his habit of stretching the truth is getting old.

Our news media does a really poor job of educating/informing people of what's really going on so in some ways I'm glad Moore is out there with another point of view. I hope the movie spurs people to go out and get more educated, but sadly the American society is lazy.

ah well. what could have been.