Teresa and I saw Fahrenheit 9/11 and Supersize Me! at the Cedar Lee Theater on Saturday.
After all the hype about Moore’s new movie, we were expecting it to be the best he’s ever done. I was quite disappointed. I think he had opportunities to deliver his viewpoint strongly and make a good movie of it – he just didn’t do it. Even though I agree with much of what he had to say, I felt emotionally manipulated by the way he said it. I don’t watch TV news, and I purposely avoided the images of burned and lynched contractors and blasted Iraqi children at the time. Unfortunately, I’ve now seen those images. I have no trouble understanding the awful, senseless violence of ware without seeing those graphic images. And images like that sear themselves into my memory in very disturbing, long-term ways. Moore also portrayed the Iraqis as happy and healthy under Saddam, without dealing with their actual plight. I certainly don’t think we went to war with Iraq for the reason’s the administration claims, and if we cared about humanitarian causes there are other places in the world that are worse. I think that the movie speaks to people who don’t pay attention to the larger world very often, and get their understanding in sound bites. There was a lot to learn from the movie in that respect. But for an aware, involved, intellectual liberal, the movie was to narrow, strident, and inflamatory. And there weren’t enough funny parts (although the Bonanza clips with the administration’s faces substituted were priceless).
On the other hand, Supersize Me! was fabulous. On point, well-filmed, smart, interesting and FUNNY! Go see it!
