[Reader-list] F-9/11...

[Subasri Krishnan]

Hi,

In all my years that i have been coming to Sarai (however sporadic!),
I have never seen the kind of crowd that i saw yesterday to watch a
film (or anything for that matter). Few random, not really
well-thought out thoughts...

I am not going get into the number of things the film does not address
or the fact that it fails to make linkages between a complex set of
realities.
To say that its a simplistic film meant for an American audience is I
think a fair assessment of the film, yet there are a few glaring
ommissions that one can't help but notice. The crux of the film is the
War against Iraq that the Bush regime started. What Moore fails to
address is the fact that the American administration had already been
waging a war against Iraq for over a decade through sanctions.
Thousands of Iraqis had already been dying, and this when a Democrat
was the President! You don't need to go blow someone's head off to
kill someone...'Operation Destroy Iraq' was set in motion much before
'the idiot' (as we all love to call him) decided to bomb the
country...but there is no admission of that even once in the film. The
other thing that bothered me about the film was the way it ended - the
glorification of the 'men who give up their lives for us' (the
Americans). I mean how different is it from a Speilberg film? You know
this belief system that individuals are doing what they have to do -
its their job and they are doing it courageously under the given
circumstances. And as Robert Jensen rightly points out in his article
there is no representation of any non-white people who are part of
peaceful resistance in the US. After watching the film i was left with
the same feeling i had after i read his much touted book (Stupid White
Men) - that after a point, Moore's gimmicks and rationale (if one can
call it that) borders on the ridiculous!

I have been talking about the film with my friends since yesterday and
i am constantly told that its a 'campaign film', and that it should be
seen in that frame of reference...and that the point of the film is to
get The Idiot out of power. But seriously I don't see what difference
it's going to make. I am sure most of you have thought about this -
but really how is Kerry going to be any different? And hence, i can't
engage with it just as a 'campaign film' and ignore what I think are
glaring blunders (i use that word for the lack of a better one). Sure
I want The Idiot to never come back to power, and maybe this film
might play a part in making sure that happens. But then what??? That
is a question that Moore never bothers to address!

cheers
subasri
PS:Christopher Hitchens ('journalist-historian', former Trotskyite,
current poster boy for the neo-conservatives and one of the champions
of the War in Iraq) has written a review of the film. The review is
virulent at the best of times and I recognize that Hitchens has his
own agenda in trashing the film...but it might be worth a read:
http://slate.msn.com/id/2102723/

PPS: Having said what a lot of people have already
said/written/thought about, i loved watching the film. It was
thoroughly entertaining. Moore should think about directing a feature
film in Hollywood someday!!!