War, who is it good for?. Review on Fahrenheit 9/11 Movie

''Why does a dog wag its tail? Because a dog is smarter than its tail. If the tail was smarter, the tail would wag the dog.''

So starts the movie ''Wag The Dog'' (1997), one of the greatest political satires ever made in which a Washington political Mr. Fix It and an utopian Hollywood producer fabricate, dramatize and sell a non-existing war (with studio footage and imaginary war heroes) to the public to divert their attention from the President?s sex scandal that could potentially hurt his re-election.

I implore each and every one of you to watch this movie before you go to ''Fahrenheit 9/11'' so that you have a head start in perceiving what media frenzy in the US is all about and how it can propel a nation to travel half way across the globe to occupy another sovereign state loosely based on fallacious pretexts of national security when almost every individual knows that they hold no water.

Maybe, a little bit of OIL!

Unlike that of the former, the implication of ''Fahrenheit 9/11'' is not outrageously funny, it is plain simply outrageous. In this riveting and dissecting documentary about the events that ensued the infamous attack on the USA on sept 11, 2001, Michael Moore, brings to limelight, the allegations, accusations and controversies that has surrounded the Bush Presidency and his belligerent policies in fighting terror. Pet conspiracy theories have emanated in all forms of the media, particularly in the internet and talk shows, implying the unthinkable in hopes of creating sensationalism, while the American government with its ever powerful marketing agency (otherwise knows as the Cable News Network), went on to deliver its sales pitch with impeccable precision and admirable results. Moore puts together the pieces of the puzzle and provides evidentiary documentation to bolster his allegations against the Bush Presidency. He also provides insight into the impacts of the bombing of Afghanistan and the invasion of Iraq on lives both at home and overseas.

Riding on the overwhelming reception of his previous documentary Bowling For Columbine, which dealt with the growing gun culture in America, , Moore caters to the expectation of his audience both informed and otherwise. He begins his narrative with the florida ballot recount fiasco of the 2000 presidential elections and highlights the connections between those who were in responsible positions to impact the outcome of this controversy and the Bush family. He demonstrates that the president was in fact made aware of the imminent threat of terror that the Al-Qaeda posed to the United States and outlines the reactions of the Bush presidency in its first few months leading to 9/11. He throws light on the Saudi investments and interests in the US and the business relationships between the Bush Family and the Bin Laden family. He criticizes the immunity offered to the Bin Laden family members in the US, immediately after the attacks and questions the administration's motives in doing so. He goes on to demonstrate how the government sold its war campaign against Afghanistan and Iraq to the public and who indeed stood to gain from these operations. He explores the impact of these wars on the lives of people who face the brunt, the soldiers and the civilian casualties. Questioning the veracity of the Bush administrations claims against Al-Qaeda and Saddam Hussein all along, he reinforces each of his allegations with irrefutable documents and video clippings that connect the dots, hitherto clouded from the public eye, leaving it to the audience to envisage the big picture.

Notwithstanding the surrounding controversies and the fervor created by this documentary film, this is journalism at it's purest form, counterbalancing the skewed propaganda of the mainstream fourth estate. The captions and the commercials used by the CNN to invoke a sense of reverence (remember, ''Shock and Awe''!!!) among the public and to maintain a sense of constant fear, were as imaginative, if not more than, as the ones used by Sony Pictures to promote Spiderman-2. Capitalism tends to exploit any situation and such widespread fear was a gold mine for companies to promote safety devices such as gas masks and impenetrable shelters, the sales of which rose whenever the homeland security raised the threat levels closer to the dreaded crimson.

This irrational fear of the unknown by the uninformed lent a lot of support to the President?s case against Afghanistan and then against Saddam Hussein. While a small fraction of the population was still unwilling to see Iraq as a potential threat to the US, the Bush administration vehemently insisted that Saddam has ?Weapons of Mass Destruction? (the American citizens were slowly trained to shiver at the mention of this clause like a clockwork and they eventually followed suit). The non-believers were branded traitors and the American public indulged in a illusion of grandeur that they, as a superpower, were releasing the wretched people of Iraq from the hands of the most evil tyrant the world had ever seen, or led to be believed so. With all due respect to the individuals who lost their lives fighting, the media allotted a major portion of their time in aggrandizing the lives of Todd Beamer and Jessica Lynch, celebrating the capture of Richard Reid and discussing the life of John Lindh. The quest for truth and the need for a case for war were drowned in a media frenzy driven by popular fear and mistrust. If Goebbels had a CNN at his disposal and a population soaked in such fear, I wouldn?t be in a position to write this and neither would you be in a position to read.

Through his innovative approach that bridges a news reel and a motion picture, Michael Moore has made available to the public, that section of the ?News? which was always accessible but was easily overshadowed by a polar propaganda fuelled by public fear. He embellishes it with witty anecdotes, intelligent sequencing and editing, and amusing parallels, none of which should distract the viewer from the fact that this is a news piece that brings to the forefront the hidden dots behind the action and connects them too.

If one thing history has taught us, it is that War is always more destructive and the ones paying the price are the innocent ? soldiers from a mid-western small town and street vendors from the suburbs of Baghdad, to name a few. This documentary captures the emotions of both the aggressors and the victims who are both pawns in the larger scheme of the businesses that thrive on war. This is not the image of Tom Hanks dragging the torso of a soldier through the beach of a movie set. This is the footage of a small child, the better part of whose forearm is smashed and opened up. This is the footage of a young soldier who has lost a couple of limbs and trying to reason with himself. Can all of this be accounted for as collateral damage in the art of war? Is there someone who is benefiting from this war? Are there vested interests for certain political families and business firms? Are these profiteers willing to risk anything at all that is dear to them? These are just some of the questions that Michael Moore poses through his film. This is as loud as an alarm bell can sound. Please don?t push the snooze button on this one.

P.S: This is not a movie review. These are my views on the documentary.