I went and saw "Fahrenheit 9/11" with my brother yesterday.

I thought it was OK. Important material, definitely appreciated as mainstream media wouldn't touch it, but as a documentary, I think "Bowling for Columbine" was stronger. And being a knee-jerk liberal lefty from San Francisco (from San Francisco?, did I just say that?), nothing came as a huge shock.

I thought he could have made a more effective film by tightening it up and shortening it. Keep the focus on Bush, and at the end, bring it back to Bush since indicting Bush and his cronies is the point of the film. Instead he went for the emotional sucker-punch, which was great footage, coupled with that of the Iraqi woman, but too tenuously, I thought, connected back to Bush.

I'm not saying I could have done it any better, it was still quite a good doc and it keeps interest for the whole two hours. But critically, and pulling for the cause, I thought it would have been more effective if he didn't leave it on an emotional point, which in a documentary style as blunt as Michael Moore's seems a bit contrived having it at the end. We know how much it sucks to have our children, friends, and troops dying for a cause that isn't just. I would rather leave the theater outraged, reminded of the material presented at the beginning of the doc.

The movie makes some great points, though, especially regarding the primacy of power, money, and corporate influence in the Bush administration. It was a funny point when he says the American people pay Bush $400,000 per year, while the Saudis have been giving him and his corporations $14 billion over the course of many years - who do you think he's going to listen to first? If nothing else, though, the American people have the right to know material like this and come to their own conclusion. Bush's people are so shrouded in secrecy and confidentiality, but who is he working for?

On an aside, I'd like to see someone make a t-shirt with a stencil of Cheney, and the words "Fuck off" printed on it, and kids should wear them to school. The friggin' Vice-President said those words in a public forum, kids can't repeat what the Vice-President said in public? It's not some foul-mouthed rapper or pompous, arrogant sports star, it's the Vice-President.