Fahrenheit 11/9

For better or worse, this feels like the final thesis statement for everything Moore has been trying to say for the past 15 years...though it certainly won't be. A provocateur that rides the line between downright entertaining & annoyingly self-righteous, this is maybe his best movie since Bowling for Columbine. Not because of the Trump stuff, which we're all well aware of, but the smaller, more bipartisan stuff like the Flint water crisis & the tongue-in-cheek Hitler segment.

More striking to me than the the film itself is its incredibly bi-modal retribution reveiwer scores, ALMOST ALL.NEARLY 1 or 2 OR 10 or 9. This not only strikingly illustrates the ideological/political character of user responses, but the limitations of mean scores as statistical summaries of viewer favor or disfavor. In this case no use, except as a benchmark for the polarized responses.

As for the film itself, think 11/9 is probably the best film of one of our most skilled cinemantic essayist. It's free of Moore's occasional gaffes (e.g. the cruel interrogation of Charlton Heston in Moore's critique of US gun use, the 9/11 shot of joyous Iraqies in Baghdad cafes just prior to Bush-II's military intervention into Iraq). It's polemical but conscientious, if not unselective, in its use of facts. It's a powerful piece of rhetoric, like say the Gettysburg Address or Reagan's "tear down that wall" speech.

The disappointment is to observe more people packing across the hall to see transformers rather than to watch this thought-provoking and well crafted documentary. If Americans are fatigued on our state of politics and checking out on Trump already.... we're in deep trouble!

This is a great movie. At a time when there is obvious disillusionment about the state of, not just the United States and all of its historical dysfunction, but humanity in general. Obviously, for some, it's easier to simply dismiss any critique of Trump as 'conspiracy' and criticize Moore for carrying political luggage, but, ignorance and insecurity aside, every subject, every interview, every observation, every human interaction in this movie was as real as they come. It's not like people are play acting. Moore has a beautiful style that connects with the rational, sensing, feeling, thinking individual who, despite attempts to alienate from, connect to other individuals on this planet who truly understand that value of life, and the worth of people. Bravo Michael for another masterpiece!!

This should be required viewing in school. Yes, of course Michael Moore uses all the tricks filmmakers use to tell a story in an engaging manner, but anyone who comes to this with an open mind will see that at its core there is a message that is deeply disturbing about our politicians. I take my hat off to all the brave people, from the left or right, who are prepared to challenge the "old boy" power structures that corrupt politics.