FAHRENHEIT 911: Realizing an Afterimage
By Richard Kostelanetz
Nothing additional need be said by me about the content of Michael Moore?s great documentary Fahrenheit 911 (2004), which has already been elaborately critiqued and counter-critiqued; but about its style I have two thoughts not commonly heard:
The editing is wildly uneven, with many parts (especially those drawn from television footage) reflecting the hyper-zippy editorial style of MTV, sometimes effectively, as in showing former president George H.W. Bush consorting with many Saudies, but often ineffectively. Many other parts in Fahrenheit 911 go on too long, especially when the director Moore appears on screen.
Most of us visual artists want to realize an afterimage that sticks in the viewers’ minds long after they have seen our work; and I have more than once suggested that a film or television documentary lacking an afterimage remains just illustrated journalism. In my mind, the principal afterimage in Fahrenheit 911 portrays the President’s paralyzed indecision after being informed by a staffer that a plane had struck the World Trade Center. Though Moore in his editorial impatience did not use all seven minutes reportedly taken in the Florida elementary-school photo-opportunity the morning of September 11, 2001, his film contains more of Dubya?s pathos than we?ve seen before, accompanied by Moore?s devastatingly portentous narration.
This sequence, in the past often conveniently abridged to suit the restrictive rhythm of TV news, is now frequently shown again in television reviews of or reportage about the film. The irony is that the limitations of American television news reporting gave Moore the opportunity to use easily available footage that, giving the newsworthiness of his film, can now be shown more completely on American television. It is this afterimage, more than other in Fahrenheit 911, that will undermine Dubya?s pretensions to remain President (and thus realize Moore?s ambition, often sidetracked in the film, to unseat the incumbent).
Need I note as a sometime documentarian that neither of the two major sponsors of mediocre American documentaries contributed to this film?neither the National Endowment for the Humanities nor Public Television?though I?m sure the latter would be happy to show it (after it tours movie houses, of course). Indeed, since 911 had made millions for those producing and distributing it, one beneficial result is likely to be more moviehouse documentaries similarly tough on their subjects.
Finally, the historic film that Fahrenheit 911 most resembles in its focused political purposefulness is Leni Riefenstahl?s appreciation of a Nazi political rally, Triumph of the Will (1934). Whereas the strongest memory of Triumph comes from the portrayal of the awesome strength of Hilter?s speaking, the principal afterimage of the former is Dubya?s weakness.
Richard Kostelanetz
Earl of Wordship
PO Box 444, Prince St.
New York,NY 10012-0008
www.richardkostelanetz.com
