Fahrenheit 9/11

The title of the film and its motto “Fahrenheit 9/11 - the temperature at which freedom burns” beat the name of Ray Bradbury ’s dystopia “ 451 degrees Fahrenheit ” and its epigraph “451 ° Fahrenheit - the temperature at which paper ignites and burns”. According to the rules for recording dates adopted in the American English version, the name or number of the month is preceded by the day, whereby the date of the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks is recorded as “September 11” or 9/11.

The film alludes to Bush’s possible involvement in the events of September 11, 2001. , fraud in his favor during the 2000 US presidential election , his long-standing business relationship with Osama bin Laden . The film also contains an authorial version of Michael Moore of the true causes of the war in Afghanistan and the war in Iraq .

According to Michael Moore, Fahrenheit 9/11 was filmed to prevent George W. Bush from being re-elected in the 2004 US presidential election . However, politicians from the US Democratic Party , including presidential candidate John Kerry , distanced themselves from the film and the accusations it contains against George W. Bush. Protests against the release of the film were also expressed by some of the politicians from the Republican Party .

The film had many problems at the start of work and the subsequent release to the rental. Mel Gibson's Icon Production company, initially engaged in financing, abandoned its obligations in May 2003. The Miramax film company, which continued the production of the film, received from its owner, Walt Disney Pictures , repeated demands to stop working on the project. Despite the ban, work was continued.

After completing the filming of Fahrenheit 9/11, Walt Disney Pictures , which ultimately owned the rights to the film, faced a violation of its own requirements and refused to release the film as inappropriate for the film company. The producers of Miramax, the Weinstein brothers , bought the rights to Fahrenheit 9/11 for $ 6 million and began to independently rent the picture.

• The Golden Palm Branch of the 2004 Cannes Film Festival .
• Golden Raspberry Award:
  • Worst acting duo - George W. Bush , Condoleezza Rice and "Bush's favorite hand-goat"
  • Worst Actor - George W. Bush
  • Worst supporting actress - Britney Spears
  • Worst Supporting Actor - Donald Rumsfeld

Fahrenheit 9/11 is based on the book “ Where is my country, dude?” "Written by Moore himself. Moore argues that the causes of the Iraq war are rooted in personal disagreements between Bush and bin Laden , and the US Army Recruitment Service uses dishonest methods to recruit young people as soldiers. Moreover, according to the material presented by Moore, we can conclude about the long-term mutually beneficial cooperation between Bush and bin Laden, which is rooted in the agreements of Bush Sr. with the bin Laden family. The film highlights the range of interests and subjects of this cooperation - oil, arms supplies, contracts, etc.

The film begins with a critical analysis of the 2000 presidential election , in which George W. Bush was declared the winner despite receiving fewer votes than his rival Al Gore . At the beginning of Moore’s film, fragments from an interview with Fox News ’s political allies with George W. Bush’s political allies (including his cousin John Ellis) are inserted, suggesting that Bush be declared a winner ahead of schedule. Moore then raises the issue of contested voting results in Florida, where George W. Bush’s victory was secured by the help of his brother, state governor Jeb Bush, and fraud by restricting black electoral rights.

Further analysis of Bush’s activities in the first year of his presidency shows that until September 11, 2001, Bush spent 42% of his working days on vacation or vacation (statistics from the Washington Post ), including 54 days on his Crawford ranch, 38 days - at the presidential country residence in Camp David and 4 more - from parents in Maine. Scenes showing Bush playing golf with his family, fishing and feeding a dog follow as a visual accompaniment to this information. The introductory video is accompanied by footage where make-up artists are preparing to air various members of the Bush administration, including Colin Powell , Paul Wolfowitz , Condoleezza Rice , Donald Rumsfeld .

• In May 2004, Michael Moore made an official statement that Walt Disney Pictures (the owner of the Miramax distributor) was preventing Miramax from promoting its latest documentary. In turn, Disney representatives replied that the decision was made back in May 2003, and even then they advised Miramax to abandon the distribution functions of this film.
• The executive director, Michael Eisner , quipped that Moore had deliberately fanned a public scandal in order to attract the attention of film critics at the Cannes Film Festival. In turn, Moore said that Eisner is simply a coward and is afraid of the increase in taxes levied on Disneyland and the many hotels located in Florida. As you know, the governor of Florida, Jeb Bush, is the brother of US President George W. Bush, who was heavily criticized in the film by Michael Moore.
• After showing at the Cannes Film Festival, the film was awarded perhaps the longest standing ovation in the history of the film forum. The exact time, of course, could not be established, but the figure was from 15 to 25 minutes in the media.
• On the day of the award presentation, it was the second documentary film, which managed to take the main prize of the Cannes Film Festival - “The Golden Palm Branch ”. The pioneer in this field was the picture of the famous traveler Jacques-Yves Cousteau "Le Monde du silence" in 1956.
• For the first time, a documentary film topped the list of weekend's highest grossing films. Previously, not a single film of the documentary genre managed to get into the top five.
• During the filming, Moore shot an interview with American counterpart Nicholas Berg, who was subsequently abducted and killed by Iraqi terrorists, but decided not to include this conversation in the final version of the picture. Michael said that the interview will never be made public, as he decided to transfer all the original filming materials to Berg's relatives.
• Ray Bradbury , author of the science fiction Fahrenheit 451 , voiced his indignation at the name of Moore's painting. “He stole my idea,” an upset writer told the press.
• Documentary films have never been shown on such an impressive number of screens. The first weekend (June 25-27) - 868 screens, the second weekend (July 2-5) - 1725 screens, the third weekend (July 9-11) - 2011 (!) Screens.
• For the first time, a picture that was shown on the smallest number of screens compared to competitors led the box office.
• Prior to the release of Fahrenheit, the highest-grossing documentary was considered the same sketch by Michael Moore, Bowling for Columbine . In 2002, this picture raised 24 million dollars. “Fahrenheit” this result was demonstrated already in the first weekend of the show.
• In his official press statement, Michael Moore said: “My film is primarily targeted at those 50 percent of people who never go to the polls. Have they become an elite during this time? Have they become richer? Are they well educated? Not! They are still poor. Who are these 50 percent? This is, first of all, the working class, single mothers, uneducated youth and the overwhelming majority of African Americans. ”
• Michael Moore didn’t even try to fight the distribution of pirated versions of the film on the Internet , because the purpose of the film is not to collect as much money as possible, but to educate every potential American voter on the eve of the presidential election in late 2004 .
• The film originally received a rating of "R". Michael Moore tried to convince the MPAA that the 15-year-olds should also see the picture, which after a few years may well be enlisted in the U.S. armed forces and get into service in Iraq. He filed a protest in which he demanded to moderate the rating of the painting to " PG-13 ". However, the protest was rejected, and the picture was released with a rating of “R” under the pretext of “exciting scenes present in the film, as well as due to the abundance of curses”.
• The film used the song “Fire Water Burn” by Bloodhound Gang , as it was popular among military personnel in Iraq.

• Official site
• Michael Moore and the Art of Propaganda