Apr 25 2006
Too Soon? For the truth?
You’d be surprised to hear that I may agree with many of the critics who think that Flight 93, the movie about the ill-fated 9/11 flight that is believed to have been destined to smash the White House, is being released “too soon” after the 9/11 attacks and that people haven’t fully dealt with the scope of the tragedy yet.
To a degree, I agree with them. In fact, when I saw the headlines that a movie about 93 was in the pipeline, I almost wretched because my immediate reaction was, “Holy crap, do they need to cash in on this thing already?” Of course the media jumped right on that bandwagon because the movie doesn’t portray Bush as an evil incompetent schmuck and the terrorists as poor arab men victimized by a system that oppresses them. What’s the difference?
Well, I suddenly realized that Michael Moore came out with Fahrenheit 9/11 in 2004, 2 years before this movie.
Ponder that for a minute.
One movie portrays what happened on the flight. The other twists, contorts, and warps the truth into an anti-Bush hit piece. In Moore’s movie, everyone who was victimized by 9/11 was a mere pawn in Bush’s game to take over the world. They all died because Bush didn’t act quick enough, and soldiers were sent to war because Bush had intentions of dominating everyone.
What kind of negative press did Moore receive? Awards. Lots of them. Both nominated for and received. Yet no questions by the media about the respectfulness of the nature of Moore’s capitalization on 9/11. In fact, many in the media were calling this movie critically important viewing, encouraging people to see it and see the “facts” that we’ve been hidden from, etc.
One movie is an account based on what we know (as best as we can know it) about what happened.
One movie is a mockumentary concocted in the warped mind of a partisan hack.
One was too soon. One was important viewing, though it came out two years earlier.
I wonder why that is?
Technorati Tags: michael moore, flight 93, fahrenheit 9/11
April 25th, 2006 at 1:35 pm
I think you’re comparing two dissimilar films. Flight 93 is a portrayal of the events that transpired on 9/11 — specifically those on the doomed Flight 93. Fahrenheit 9/11 is about how the Bush administration manipulated the memory of 9/11/01 to fool and scare the American public into supporting a war in Iraq under false pretenses. Fahrenheit 9/11 is not really about 9/11 per se — it’s about President George W. Bush (and Co.). Comparing it to a dramatization of the events of 9/11 does not make sense.
April 25th, 2006 at 2:03 pm
And how the government failed and how it let it happen and so on and so forth, which I think is far more offensive than any derivative work based on a real event.
The premise of F9/11 is that everything surrounding Bush was a tool for his effort toward global conquest. People died for nothing because he wanted them to die so he could use them as an excuse.
Why didn’t anyone ask if that was too soon? What about open wounds, time to heal, and every other cliche? Somehow, when the plot was “Bush is evil,” the movie couldn’t get out there fast enough, and all it really was was anti-Bush propaganda slickly edited for stupid people to believe and digest.
It wasn’t too soon for that, in my mind. It isn’t too soon for this, in my mind.
But then again, I’m notoriously consistent.
The people criticizing Flight 93, on the other hand, for being released “too soon” cannot say the same.
April 25th, 2006 at 3:25 pm
That sounds exactly like what we got from our own president.
April 25th, 2006 at 3:37 pm
If you’re trying to focus, please try harder.
April 27th, 2006 at 12:02 pm
This movie is actually getting some pretty incredible reviews (90%, so far, on Rotten Tomatoes), with many of the critics calling it “essential viewing,” or “an important film.”
I don’t know that I necessarily want to watch it, because I tend to prefer “escapist” movies, but I’d say any negative press it’s receiving is far outweighed by the positive.
Wonder what the consensus will be for Oliver Stone’s World Trade Center, set to be released later this summer?
April 27th, 2006 at 12:13 pm
I don’t doubt this movie is great. Everyone that sees it seems to love it. My only objection is to the constant barrage of “is it too soon?”
No. It’s not.
And it wasn’t too soon for F 9/11.
And it wasn’t too soon for the 7 bazillion books that came out.
It’s not too soon, ever. In fact, if I had my way, everyone would have to watch that footage again and again and again and again once a day for the rest of their natural lives.
But that’s me.