Tread lightly on the things of earth

I saw the very first showing of Michael Moore’s Fahrenheit 9/11 in Memphis yesterday, 1:15 PM. I took a vacation day off work to see it.

Theater was about 3/4 full. Most striking: the number of elderly attendees. And by elderly, I mean people some of whom could barely walk or drive. I now wish I’d asked a few of these my elders what motivated them to see it.

As for me, after the movie’s rollercoaster ride of imagery and emotions, I just sat sobbing at the end. I was overcome by the sense of our national guilt and — as always for me, though Michael never mentions it — the Church’s¹ complicity in it.

Because I’ve been immersed in international news — that is, news from international (extra-U.S.) sources — for the last ~4 years, little shown was news to me, though I’m sure it will be to many people I know. The extent to which U.S. news is censored (filtered if you prefer) is staggering to me.

News or not, the mastery by which footage, text, music, and narration are interwoven stands out vividly. As a result, the whole pattern stands out in ways I hadn’t perceived before. I therefore think F911 may qualify as the most effective documentary I’ve ever seen. I’m sure it’s the most moving one I can remember.

In assessing the scenes about the Flint, Michigan mother who lost her son in Iraq, Goldstein captures well why I think all parents should see this movie, why each must be full-on aware of the cost of supporting Mr. Bush:

There is only one casus belli that could possibly justify visiting this kind of emotional devastation on a mother, only one cause sufficient to permit a society to ask a parent to make a sacrifice so great that it leaves them lost in an endless desert of grief, a blasted husk of a human being. And that cause ain’t evangelical democracy.

Later insert: Moved as I am by Lila Lipscomb’s suffering, what I find myself remembering most vividly is the pain of the Iraqi woman whose family and home are destroyed, who is being consumed by her loss, who is crying out to Allah for understanding — “Why? What did they do [to deserve death]?” — and then for vengeance.

If you want movie details (not my forte, obviously) then see Rex Reed’s review, Moore’s Magic: 9/11 Electrifies (via TLC). It’s the most detailed review I’ve seen so far. For example, Rex recalls this funny tidbit:

Unless you’ve lost your sense of humor completely, you’ve just gotta laugh when Mr. Moore intercuts Mr. Bush’s tough talk from cowboy movies with actual footage of the corny cowboys in those movies saying exactly the same things.

And he concludes with the primary reason I think this movie is important:

If it convinces one nonvoter to think, it will serve a purpose.

Yes. Agreement among us isn’t mandatory IMO. But if we in the U.S. are to survive as a nation and a democracy, I believe many more of us must become informed and many more of us must begin to think. We can do this.

To everything there is a season; turn, turn, turn. I think the season for turning from this unworthy political investment — Mr. Bush & Co. — is here.

¹It’s not the whole Church that’s complicit, I know; it’s not all of us Christians. Large swaths of the Church Universal in the world oppose this war and oppose this administration’s policies, as well it should as it seeks to be true to its Lord and its mission. But enough of my (former) church community supports Bush come hell or high water that it feels to me like the Church herself is complicit.

If I struggle to make this distinction after decades in the faith, I know there are many people — whose only exposure to Christianity is that of the Christian Right in the media — who are being repelled from the Church in undifferentiated disgust.

2004-06-28 update:
Wow, here’s my 15 silly milliseconds of (anonymous) fame in the Washington Post:

Checking his computer [Friday] morning, Jeff Kaufman, vice president of Memphis-based Malco Theatres, reported sellouts for both early evening shows at the one of his local theaters, which generally plays high-end commercial and art films, but had sold only five advance tickets at a multiplex in suburban Memphis.

Four of those five advance tickets were in my wallet! :-)

More seriously, today after three days’ reflecting on the movie, I assess its central deep message is our crucial need to be transformed from fearful, unquestioning cheerleader “patriots” into honest, engaged, compassionate human beings, as communicated by Lila’s words spoken in agony:

“People think they know, but they don’t. I thought I knew, but I didn’t know.”

Lord, make haste to help us know. Make speed to let us see.

2004-07-02 update:
I’m particularly taken with the detail and keen insight conveyed in this review at Here’s What’s Left. Thanks, Michael.

2004-07-15 update:
I can’t believe I missed Julius’ superb, thorough review posted on June 29. Thanks, Julius.