Fahrenheit 9/11 (2004)

Michael Moore's view on what happened to the United States after September 11; and how the Bush Administration allegedly used the tragic event to push forward its agenda for unjust wars in Afghanistan and Iraq.

Director:

Michael Moore

Writer:

Michael Moore

Stars:

Ben Affleck, Stevie Wonder, George W. Bush

27 wins & 12 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Ben Affleck	...	Himself (archive footage)
Stevie Wonder	...	Himself (archive footage)
George W. Bush	...	Himself (archive footage)
James Baker III	...	Himself (archive footage)
Richard Gephardt	...	Himself (archive footage)
Tom Daschle	...	Himself (archive footage)
Jeffrey Toobin	...	Himself (archive footage)
Al Gore	...	Himself (archive footage)
Condoleezza Rice	...	Herself (archive footage)
Donald Rumsfeld	...	Himself (archive footage)
Saddam Hussein	...	Himself (archive footage)
George Bush	...	Himself (archive footage)
Ricky Martin	...	Himself (archive footage)
Byron Dorgan	...	Himself (archive footage)
Osama bin Laden	...	Himself (archive footage)

Storyline

Following up on 'Bowling for Columbine', film-maker Michael Moore provides deep and though-provoking insights on the American security system, the level of paranoia, fear, uncertainty, false values and patriotism, which all combined together to set a stage for George W. Bush to launch a war on Iraq instead of focusing on getting the real culprit(s) behind the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001. This documentary also focuses on how some Saudis were safely and secretly flown out of America while planes were ostensibly grounded after the attacks. Archived film footage, candid interviews with politicians, and an overall waste of public funds for a war that was initiated on false pretension to wit: a weapon of mass distraction - to take the focus away from the real enemy and get Americans glued to their TV sets to watch innocent Iraqis and Afghans getting killed. And a war that would eventually alienate the U.S.A. and it's citizens from almost every country on Earth.

---

Plot Keywords:

iraq | interview | war on terrorism | afghanistan | terrorism | 

---

Taglines:

This July the fireworks will fly

---

Genres:

Documentary | History | War

---

Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated R for some violent and disturbing images, and for language

Details

Official Sites:

Dog Eat Dog Films

Country:

USA

Language:

English Arabic

Release Date:

25 June 2004 (USA)

Also Known As:

Fahrenheit 911

Filming Locations:

Baghdad, Iraq

Box Office

Budget:

$6,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend:

$64,114 (Hong Kong) (15 October 2004)

Gross:

$163,920 (Hong Kong) (29 October 2004)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Fellowship Adventure Group, Dog Eat Dog Films, Miramax Films

Technical Specs

Runtime:

122 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

The highest-grossing documentary in its opening weekend: $23,920,637 (equalling the three-month run total of Michael Moore's previous film Bowling for Columbine).

---

Quotes

[first lines]
Narrator: Was it all just a dream?
Al Gore: God bless you, Florida! Thank you!
Narrator: Did the last four years not really happen? Look, there's Ben Affleck. He's often in my dreams. And the Taxi Driver guy. He was there too. And little Stevie Wonder, he seemed so happy... like, like a miracle had taken place. Was it a dream? Or was it real?

---

Crazy Credits

Thank you ... The Lipscomb/Pederson Family ... The Petriken Family ...

---

Connections

Featured in George W. Bush Battles Jesus Christ (2008)

---

Soundtracks

"Dragnet March"
(1947)
Written by Walter Schumann
Courtesy of Universal Television
Dragnet Music Company/Chappell & Co.

User Reviews

Failed My Expectations

First off, I am a big fan of Michael Moore's film making. At his worst was his A&E TV series, 'The Awful Truth', which was still good but not great. At his best, was 'Roger and Me' and 'Bowling for Columbine'. Particularly, the latter.

Farenheit 9/11 is more in the flavor of the TV series. It doesn't come close to matching the greatness of his two prior movies. Basically, Farenheit 9/11 is a collection of TV news clips, most of them out of context, put together in such a way to suggest his point of view. Despite his attempts, I just found the connections he was trying to make via film far-fetched in some cases. Frankly, I found it boring and I kept looking at my watch all the way through.

However, none of this is saying that I disagree with the essence of what he is trying to say, I just disagree with the way he's saying it. Everybody I've talked to has told me that they thought it was amazing and an important film to see. Of course, this always seems to happen to me. A movie gets high reviews and I go in to the theater with too high of expectations. I was just let down a lot.

The worst part of the film was the TV clips, which were a good part of the movie. They weren't cleaned up a bit, they were blurry, and should have been "re-mastered" for the wide theater screen. It was as if my next door neighbor went out with his hand-held video camera and shot it. A very amatuer type look all the way through, which yes, Michael's films have been known for, but this was just too visually poor for the most part.

Supporting most, if not all of what Michael is trying to say here politically, I feel he didn't do the cause any justice. I believe I heard on the radio that George Bush's re-election campaign was asked if they were concnerned about this movie being released so close to the election, and their reply was something to the effect that the movie was so far-fetched that most people would dismiss it. And despite it's poor quality as a film, there's enough subject matter there to get people thinking and to sway some votes against Bush when it's all said and done. For that and that alone, I applaud Michael. It's a shame I can't applaud him for the reasons that matter, such as filmaking quality.