Alison Dellit
"Not to give Mr Howard too much credit but he at least appears to have half a brain. Half, I said. Half. I'm being generous. But what is he doing with George W. Bush? It's really disgraceful", documentary film-maker Michael Moore told a Washington press conference on July 7.
Referring to his latest film, Fahrenheit 9/11, Moore added: "I hope that Australians that see this film will say to themselves 'We need some regime change here in our country'." Moore has made no secret of his hope that the film will help bring down those government leaders who sent their armies to invade Iraq last year — US President George Bush, British Prime Minister Tony Blair and Australian PM John Howard.
"Is Bush packing?", he asked in a public letter written as Fahrenheit 9/11 smashed box office records across the US, recording the biggest takings ever for a film that opened in less than 1000 cinemas. Fahrenheit 9/11 is an indictment of the war on Iraq — and of the whole "war on terror".
On its first weekend of screening, the film took US$23 million, and the distributors guessed it may reach $100 million in three weeks. After only 10 days of screening, ticket sales had reached $60 million.
According to the July 14 Time magazine — which put Moore on its cover — pollsters have been unable to confirm a "demographic" attending the film, because it is so diverse. "Exit surveys show that as the week wore on, it even became a date picture", Time reported. ("That's a good idea", Moore told Time, "especially if it's a first date, because you'll have plenty to talk about. And also you can vet the date. You'll know right away if you should have a second date.")
The film's success indicates the depth of the change in mood in the US since 9/11, as ordinary people begin to realise that they have been dragged into a war that is not only killing their young people, but is unjust.
"We've underestimated the audience's desire to see [political] material", Robert Greenwald, director of the soon-to-be-released Uncovered: The War on Iraq, told Time. "I don't think it's about hating the president. It's that politics has been brought home to the deepest part of ourselves. People now feel 'Politics is me'."
So, is Bush packing? Well, he's certainly not happy. After attempts by Disney to prevent the film from seeing the light of day failed, the White House decided not to "officially comment" on the film , for fear of fuelling the publicity inferno. Instead, White House staffers Karl Rove and Dan Brasch bombarded network newsrooms with claims that the film was factually inaccurate.
However, when asked if he had seen the film, Brasch replied: "This is a film that doesn't require us to actually view it to know that it's filled with factual inaccuracies." Moore responded: "At least they're consistent. They never needed to see a single weapon of mass destruction before sending our kids off to die."
The charge of factual inaccuracy has been met with firm denials from Moore, who, aware of the storm the film was likely to provoke, employed the New Yorker magazine's fact checkers to go through the film before its release. Moore told Time that he is thinking of offering a $10,000 reward to anyone who finds any inaccuracies in the film.
Although Fahrenheit 9/11 only opens this week in Australia, it is anticipated to have a similar impact here. Already, Howard has nervously commented on Adelaide radio that Australians are "too smart" to be influenced in their voting patterns by something like Moore's film.
It would be a great thing if Howard and Bush were punished at the polls for their participation in mass murder. It would be a great thing if a Mark Latham-led ALP government brought the troops home. But electing Latham, like electing Kerry, will not stop the outrage that is the "war on terror"; it will not even end the pillage of Iraq.
There is a deeper message in Moore's film — we have to keep fighting, and organising and acting in solidarity with those who are oppressed by "our" governments. If you want to find out how, check out the contact details on page 2 for an activist centre near you, and join us in the fight for a better world.
From Green Left Weekly, July 14, 2004.
Visit the Green Left Weekly home page.