Watched it last Friday and was impressed by it. Very well made with a lot of information and emotions packed in. It is not even 2 hours long, but, I felt exhausted when I was walking out of the theater. Although there was a lot to talk about, we couldn’t talk much during our car-ride back. I guess there was much more to think about. I am sure our faces just lit up to see Ashwini on the way home. It was a joy to pick her up from her daycare after the movie.

Some parts of the movie could be considered as a one-sided story, but, it is presented very well and unless the other side is told, it is very believable. It is also very hard for families of US servicemen and women to show that what they are doing in Iraq is useless or unwanted and they are losing their lives unnecessarily. I guess Moore is counting on convincing these families to go out and vote in Novemeber.

There is a lot in the movie that shocked me. Here are some of those things that I can remember.

  • The prologue to Fahrenheit 9/11 revisits Bush's rise to power in late 2000, paying particular attention to democratic leadership counseling "acceptance" of the non-election. A scene of members of the House, all of them African-American, coming forward to contest the result of the election, while Gore calmly rules their objections inadmissible because no senator, not one out of 47 or 48, would satisfy Congressional rules by signing on to them. This was something that I had never seen, heard or read about before.
  • The seven minutes that W spent reading 'My pet goat' after hearing about the second crash at WTC.
  • The airlift of Saudi nationals, especially, bin Laden family members, when all the air traffic around the nation was grounded. Saudi ambassador, Prince bandar, dining at the White House on 9/13. Personal and financial ties of W with the bin Laden family and other Saudi interests.
  • Up close and personal tour of destroyed houses and dead Iraqi civilians.
  • American soldiers horsing around with dead Iraqis caught on tape. Other soldiers describing the music that they play in the tanks while attacking. Christmas eve raid of an Iraqi house to look for a suspect with Christmas music playing in the background was very eerie.
  • Images of wounded and dead American soldiers in Iraq and interviews with wounded and recovering soldiers in US, showing their stumps of arms and legs.
  • The recruiting tactics of the US Army.
  • Only 1 out of 530 or so members of Congress have a child serving in the Military.
There were some things that were done very tastefully. The 9/11 incident was just implied through some images that didn't show the twin towers or planes hitting them or dead bodies. Lila Lipscomb, the mother of a US soldier who died in Iraq was given full freedom to tell her story. Her reading of the last letter that she received from her son is very moving. She manages to stay calm throughout the last part of the movie but, simply breaks down when goes to visit the White House. This whole story is very emotional and presented very well.

On a lighter note, Michael Moore goes around the Capitol in a Ice-cream truck reading out the US Patriot Act to the members of Senate and House. He confronts many members of Congress to sign up their children to join Army to go and fight the war in Iraq that they supported.

Saudi ambassador to US, Prince Bandar is very close to the Bush family and is supposed to be nicknamed ‘Bandar Bush’. They wouldn’t have done that, only if they knew the meaning of word ‘Bandar’ in Hindi. You can’t have two people in a family with the same name. ;)

I highly recommend it to everyone. A must-see.