Whoa! Il n’y va pas avec le dos de la cuiller! Tout ce qui était dans ce film je le savais déjà ou bien l’imaginais très bien, mais quand même, c’était impressionant! And powerful! Quelques reflections:

- When people from the previous show got out, I heard someone say: “That movie didn’t change my opinion. I thought he was an asshole before and I still think he is!” I hope that person was talking about Dabeliou and not about Michael Moore! But I doubt it… This movie won’t open the eyes of people who are blind, unfortunately.

- I was reading some online reviews of the movie and found this one: “Want to make Moore richer from the worst national tragedy in US history? Then rush out and buy your tickets. Just as Moore did with the Columbine tragedy… cashing in on all the dead bodies. That’s what Moore does best. Exploits national tragedy for profit and calls it an “exposé.” Is it any wonder the French loved it? No doubt it will be translated into German and Russian and they’ll love it too. What a true American.” makes me laugh… and makes me sad.

- I went to a 2:20 show on a Tuesday afternoon and was happily surprised to see the room full of people! It seems like this movie is having a huge success here! In fact, it is number 1 at the box office! Don’t believe it? Pan dans les dents!

- It was hard for me to see two hours of the buisson maudit. I can’t stand his face, I can’t stand his voice, I can’t stand his war, I can’t stand his non-sense ramble… But I guess I had to make an effort for once… Il n’est en tous les cas pas remonté dans mon estime d’un seul petit degré! Ce que j’ai aimé aussi, dans ce film, c’est qu’on se dit que le buisson maudit est un sale con manipulateur mais ça on le savait déjà, mais plus tristement, aussi, on se rend compte que le peuple américain s’est fait avoir, s’est laissé raconter des salades et les a crues, et se laisse parfaitement bien manipuler. Tout ce merdier n’est pas QUE la faute du buisson maudit… Il faudrait aussi peut-être que les gens commencent à penser par eux-mêmes…

- Ce film a eu beaucoup de mal à sortir… Beaucoup de gens ont essayé de l’empêcher de passer dans les salles de cinéma, le poster du film n’apparait nulle part (même pas dans les salles de cinéma qui le passent), Miramax a refusé de distribuer le film, et la publicité pour le film a été interdite à la télévision! Says Michal Moore: I want to thank all the narrow-minded right-wing conservative people who have done all they could to limit access to my documentary! Whenever you forbid people to see something, they will do anything to see it!

- Interesting, also, to see that Moore didn’t want his movie to be rated R (interdit aux moins de 18 ans) because he said that there was nothing in his movie that children had not already seen on TV screens. I have to agree. In fact, I appreciated the fact that the movie did NOT show many horrible pictures of war. It showed crying mothers, tanks, soldiers, senators, presidents, children… Indeed, what everyone sees on TV every day! (Tiens, ça me fait penser que ce film n’a pas mentionné l’opinion de la France ni les protestations anti-guerre dans le monde une seule fois!)

- A la sortie du cinéma, il y avait des gens qui distribuaient des papiers… je croyais que ça serait des papiers contre le film mais non, ça disait: “You’ve seen the film. Now what can you do? Get informed (http://www.nytimes.com, http://www.washingtonpost.com, http://bbc.co.uk, http://www.alternet.org, http://www.thenation.com), get involved (http://www.lafayettepeace.org), take action (http://www.moveon.org), and vote!” Excellent!

- From Phillip Shenon of the New York Times on June 20, 2004: “After separating out what is clearly presented as Mr. Moore’s opinion from what is stated as fact, it seems safe to say that central assertions of fact in ‘Fahrenheit 9/11′ are supported by the public record (indeed, many of them will be familiar to those who have closely followed Mr. Bush’s political career). Mr. Moore is on firm ground in arguing that the Bushes, like many prominent Texas families with oil interests, have profited handsomely from their relationships with prominent Saudis, including members of the royal family and of the large and fabulously wealthy bin Laden clan….” Ouch!

- I liked it, I liked it a lot, even if I know it’s the very well manipulated and one-sided truth… I think that even if it is only PART of the truth, it’s still unacceptable! Le buisson maudit est présenté comme un homme faible, qui ne peut pas prendre de décisions tout seul, qui ne sait pas s’exprimer correctement, qui ne pense qu’à son compte en banque, et qui n’est, en fin de compte, que le petit garçon gâté à son papa. Le film résume très justement cette citation que j’avais trouvée il y a un an de ça, quand la guerre en Iraq a commencé: “The people can always be brought to the bidding of the leaders. It’s easy. All you have to do is tell them they are being attacked, and denounce the pacifists for lack of patriotism and exposing the country to danger (Herman Georing, Nazi High Command at Nurenburg).

[update. The more I think about this movie, the more I realize that it was NOT well done because it is too one-sided, too far to the extreme view, and this is why it will not change people’s opinions. If you hate the buisson maudit, you will love the movie. If you love the buisson maudit, you will still love him, maybe even more, after you have seen this movie. Michael Moore should take classes in rhetoric, it would make his movies much more balanced, powerful, and credible.]

[update 2. Pendant plusieurs jours après avoir vu ce film, je me suis dit que Moore exagérait vraiment quand même beaucoup. Mainenant, je me suis rendue compte qu’on le critique beaucoup pour son exagération dans un sens, mais tous les jours, dans les journaux, à la télé, à la radio, partout, aux USA, ça exagère dans l’autre direction et tout autant dans les extrêmes. Le buisson maudit est le sauveur du monde et de la liberté, l’économie du pays est reluisante, tout va bien dans le meilleur des mondes… et personne ne dit rien contre cette exagération-là… sauf Moore… Alors merci monsieur Moore d’avoir osé, merci de nous avoir montré l’autre côté de ce buisson maudit, et merci de l’avoir fait avec autant de tact, d’humour, et de vérité!!!]