Tagline: The temperature where freedom burns.
Directed by Michael Moore, whose aura of controversy only grew after his Oscar acceptance speech at the 2003 Academy Awards, Fahrenheit 9/11, like Moore’s Bowling For Columbine and Roger & Me, promises to expose the corporate wrongdoings and big-money scandals perpetrated by America’s financial elite.
This movie, however, looks beyond the inner echelons of General Motors and Lockheed Martin in hopes of outing the evildoers in the White House, particularly in regards to the 43rd President of the United States, George W. Bush.
In addition to criticizing the administration’s handling of the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks on the Pentagon and World Trade Center, Moore digs deep into the surprising relationship with the Bin Laden family held by both Bush administrations, and questions whether or not potential Saudi involvement with the attacks has been ignored.
“Fahrenheit 9/11” is Michael Moore’s reflections on the current state of America, including the powerful role oil and greed may have played after the 9-11 attacks. In this provocative exposé, Moore tells the one story no one has dared to tell as he reveals the events that led the US into that apocalyptic September 11th moment and why the country is now at war. The film won the highest award of the Cannes film festival.
As Fahrenheit 9/11’s Cannes Film Festival debut approached, marking only the second time in 48 years that a documentary has been included among the festival’s main competition, Miramax’s parent company Disney announced it would not be distributing the film due to its partisan nature, and, according to Moore, out of trepidation that the Florida-based Goliath’s multi-million-dollar tax breaks might be negatively affected by Florida Governor Jeb Bush, whose review within Fahrenheit 9/11 is less than favorable.
One of the most controversial and provocative films of the year, FAHRENHEIT 9/11 is Academy Award-winning filmmaker Michael Moore’s searing examination of the Bush administration’s actions in the wake of the tragic events of 9/11. With his characteristic humor and dogged commitment to uncovering the facts, Moore considers the presidency of George W. Bush and where it has led us. He looks at how and why – Bush and his inner circle avoided pursuing the Saudi connection to 9/11, despite the fact that 15 of the 19 hijackers were Saudis and Saudi money had funded Al Qaeda.
FAHRENHEIT 9/11 shows us a nation kept in constant fear by FBI alerts and lulled into accepting a piece of legislation, the USA Patriot Act, that infringes on basic civil rights. It is in this atmosphere of confusion, suspicion and dread that the Bush Administration makes its headlong rush towards war in Iraq and FAHRENHEIT 9/11 takes us inside that war to tell the stories we haven’t heard, illustrating the awful human cost to U.S. soldiers and their families.
Fahrenheit 9/11 (2004)
Directed by: Michael Moore
Starring: Michael Moore, George W. Bush, Lila Lipscomb, Al Gore, Condoleezza Rice, Donald Rumsfeld, Osama bin Laden, Saddam Hussein, George Bush, Richard Gephardt
Screenplay by: Michael Moore
Film Editing by: Kurt Engfehr, Woody Richman, Chris Seward
Art Direction by: Dina Varano
Music by: Jeff Gibbs
MPAA Rating: R for some violent and disturbing images, and for language.
Distributed by: Lionsgate Films
Release Date: June 25, 2004
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