I just came back from watching Michael Moore's anti-Bush documentary Fahrenheit 9/11 with the other interns. Our complement of summer interns is now complete, and the latest additions are my new flatmates Gara and Miguel from Spain, and Matthias from Germany.

As for the documentary itself, it's the first time that I've actually watched Michael Moore's productions, even though I've heard of him for quite some time. His films have never made it to Malaysia...is it simply because the subject matter is of no interest to the Malaysian audience, or because is it for some other reason?

The documentary starts of focusing on the Bush family's connections with Saudi business, including the Bin Ladin family, from George W. Bush's business days it the 80s and 90s, up to 10 September 2001. Then, there is a very powerful video clip, which shows President Bush visiting a primary school in Florida, AFTER the first plane had crashed into the WTC (he knew, but decided to go ahead anyway). When an aide whispers into his ear that the second plane had crashed in, the documentary shows him sitting in the classroom with the children, with a blank expression on his face, for a full seven minutes.

The angle of the documentary then moves to the Iraq war, and there are a lot of images which are rather unsettling. I thought this part of the film was rather contradictory, because on one hand it portrayed the US forces as insolent brutes committing atrocities against the Iraqis, on the other hand it tried to show the US soldiers as unwilling participants. The rest of the show tells the personal story of a mother who lost a son fighting in Iraq.

As far as I'm concerned, the movie was preaching to the converted: I already feel that Bush is an incompetent idiot, representating big business interests, and a threat to the world at large. However, I personally felt that the documentary smacked more than a little as propaganda. Nevertheless, so long as it gets Bush out of power, I have no complaints.

On another note, something like this would never come out in my own country. As many problems and flaws as there is about America, the people have a voice. I wish my own people could have just a chance to do more than be sycophants to the powers-that-be.

Then