| | | Controversy...What Controversy?
Features: DVD
In the most provocative film of the year, Academy Award winner Michael Moore presents a searing examination of the role played by money and oil in the wake of the tragic events of 9/11. Michael Moore blends captivating and thought-provoking footage with revealing interviews while balancing it all with his own brand of humor and satire.
"Scorching!" A.O.Scott, The New York Times
"...informative, provocative, frightening, compelling, funny, manipulative and, most of all, entertaining." Claudia Puig, USA Today
"Two thumbs up!" Ebert & Roeper
"...could actually prove to be the first in history to help unseat a sitting American president." Marc Savlov, Austin Chronicle
"...laced with that now-familiar "Roger and Me" mix of homespun wit, pop culture playfulness, populist heart twisting and "gotcha" guerilla film-making tactics." Michael Wilmington, Chicago Tribune
"...an intensely resonant piece of Bush-bashing, because it lets the president do most of the work." Owen Gleiberman, Entertainment Weekly
"...a stinging indictment of where we're going. In a multiplex filled with Hollywood cotton candy, we need him more than ever." Peter Travers, Rolling Stone
Editor's Note
Academy Award-winning director Michael Moore examines the Bush administration's financial ties to Saudi Arabia and the bin Laden family in FAHRENHEIT 9/11, a well-researched, fast-paced, highly controversial, and important documentary that won the Palme d'Or at the 2004 Cannes Film Festival. Using actual footage and declassified documents, Moore takes a detailed look into political events both before and after the attacks on the World Trade Center on September 11, 2001, beginning with the polarizing Supreme Court decision that ultimately gave the state of Florida and the 2000 election to George W. Bush. Moore reveals how the U.S. government helped the bin Laden family return to Saudi Arabia immediately after September 11, when all other flights were still grounded; and examines military recruiting techniques in such poor areas as his own hometown of Flint, Michigan. He even attempts to get congressmen to enlist their own sons and daughters into the military. The writer-director also visits with the troops, including at a VA hospital where soldiers are having second thoughts about America's involvement in Iraq, and spends time with a family whose eldest son is fighting in Iraq. FAHRENHEIT 9/11 is a worthy successor to Moore's previous documentaries, ROGER & ME, THE BIG ONE, and BOWLING FOR COLUMBINE, once again shining a light on the past, present, and future of the US.
| Features | Audio: English Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround Sound | | Condoleezza Rice's 9/11 Commission Testimony | | Extended Interview: More With Abdul Henderson | | Featurettes: The Release Of Fahrenheit 9/11, Outside Abu Ghraib Prison, Eyewitness Account From Samara, Iraq, Lila Lipscomb At The Washington D.C. Premiere, & Arab-American Comedians - Their Acts & Experiences After 9/11 | | Interactive Menus | | Montage: The People Of Iraq On The Eve Of Invasion | | New Scene: Homeland Security, Miami Style | | Rose Garden Press Briefing After 9/11 Commission Appearance | | Scene Selection |
| Technical Info
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Release Information
| | Studio: GENIUS PRODUCTS |
| Release Date: 7/6/2007 |
| Running Time: 122 minutes |
| Original Release Date: 2004 | | Catalog ID: 08670 | | UPC: 00796019086707 | | Number of Discs: 1 |
Audio & Video
| | Video: Color |
Aspect Ratio | | Anamorphic Widescreen 1.78:1 |
| Cast & Crew | Al Gore - Featuring | | Ben Affleck - Featuring | | Bill Clinton - Featuring | | Condoleezza Rice - Featuring | | Dick Cheney - Featuring | | Dina Varano - Art Director | | Donald Rumsfeld - Featuring | | George W. Bush - Featuring | | Harvey Weinstein - Executive Producer | | Jeff Gibbs - Original Music By | | Kurt Engfehr, et. al. - Editor | | Michael Moore - Producer | | Michael Moore - Director | | Michael Moore - Writer | | Michael Moore - Narrated By | | Osama Bin Laden - Featuring | | Robert De Niro - Featuring | | Saddam Hussein - Featuring | | Stevie Wonder - Featuring |
| Awards |
Nominee (2005) | | | Image Award, Fahrenheit 9/11, Outstanding Motion Picture | |
Winner (2005) | | | People's Choice, Fahrenheit 9/11, Favorite Motion Picture | |
Winner (2004) | | | Cannes Film Festival, Michael Moore, Golden Palm Award | | | Cannes Film Festival, Michael Moore, FIPRESCI Prize |
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| | Professional Reviews | Rolling Stone
"Moore has marshaled what's on the record and off into a stinging indictment of where we're going." 07/08/2004 p.136Entertainment Weekly
"[A] potent and infuriating fight-the-power documentary..." 07/09/2004 p.60-1 New York Times
"[An] authentic and indispensable document of its time..." 06/23/2004 p.E1 Uncut
"Moore is grass-roots politics' own gorilla film-maker, an instantly recognisable gadfly guru..." 08/01/2004 p.122 Sight and Sound
"It rockets through the thickest of geo-politics, stopping for snapshots from this angle and that, leaving in its wake a bracingly kinetic portrait of an atavistic fool." 09/01/2004 p.60 ReelViews 7 of 10
The primary goal of Fahrenheit 9/11 is obvious: offer evidence that President George W. Bush is an incompetent moron and that his administration is corrupt. One might argue that filmmaker Michael Moore does an adequate job of this, except that, to anyone who follows politics, there's nothing new about those charges. Bush has often shown that, as president, he's in over his head. He has never hidden his lack of intelligence...With Fahrenheit 9/11, Moore has toned down both his sarcastic comedy and his ego-driven penchant for being constantly on-screen. There are still moments of inspired humor, such as the caustic use of "The Magnificent Seven" theme and old Western clips to lampoon the attack on Afghanistan. And Moore is never far away from the camera's lens. He makes a few appearances, including a typical instance of grandstanding (when he tries to get members of Congress to sign up their children to serve in Iraq), but the narrative is delivered in his voice. He shows restraint and sensitivity when depicting the events of 9/11/01. We hear the audio while watching a black screen, then see a collage of reactions. We are not shown images of planes crashing into buildings. Those aren't necessary, because they are already burned into our memories. - James Berardinelli
Chicago Sun-Times 9 of 10
Michael Moore's "Fahrenheit 9/11" is less an expose of George W. Bush than a dramatization of what Moore sees as a failed and dangerous presidency. The charges in the film will not come as news to those who pay attention to politics, but Moore illustrates them with dramatic images and a relentless commentary track that essentially concludes Bush is incompetent, dishonest, failing in the war on terrorism, and has bad taste in friends...Although Moore's narration ranges from outrage to sarcasm, the most devastating passage in the film speaks for itself..."Fahrenheit 9/11" is a compelling, persuasive film, at odds with the White House effort to present Bush as a strong leader. He comes across as a shallow, inarticulate man, simplistic in speech and inauthentic in manner. If the film is not quite as electrifying as Moore's "Bowling for Columbine," that may be because Moore has toned down his usual exuberance and was sobered by attacks on the factual accuracy of elements of "Columbine"; playing with larger stakes, he is more cautious here, and we get an op-ed piece, not a stand-up routine. But he remains one of the most valuable figures on the political landscape, a populist rabble-rouser, humorous and effective; the outrage and incredulity in his film are an exhilarating response to Bush's determined repetition of the same stubborn sound bites. - Roger Ebert
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