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i saw the film on friday last.
in general, i thought it was well done. a better film than bfc, technically,
it is clearly aimed at conservatives--it tries to undermine thier frame of reference from the inside. it uses many of the same kind of moves you get from right sources--since i am not a conservative, i thought those moves annoying.
what i liked:
the use of the sound of 911 rather than the image.
the orwell quote at the end. great stuff.
that i heard lots of political debates going on after the film was over---documentaries are arguments, they work best when they inspire conversation, argument, debate. for that, i think the film is really a fine thing--certainly more heartening and interesting than hearing debates about spiderman or the characters from lord of the rings or other such after a film ends.
i would think people would be pleased to hear serous conversations being prompted by almost any political film.
what i did not like:
i did not understand what the argument ultimately was about the saudis. if you assume that he is talking to the hysterical nationalists on the right, then i can see what he was doing--but it also seemed to traffic in a kind of noxious arabs-are-evil thing.
you get enough to that shit from the right---from people who derive consequences from the dominant discourse without pretending to be careful about where those implications lead.
i thought the sentimental last third of the film was unnecessary--i felt for the mother from flint who lost a son in this absurd colonial war, but geez--again, i understand why moore would go that route, but since i am not one who has any investment in the argument or its inverse, it found it mawkish.
so there we are.
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a gramophone its corrugated trumpet silver handle
spinning dog. such faithfulness it hear
it make you sick.
-kamau brathwaite
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