Disney Blocks Moore Film
Disney is taking steps to prevent it’s subsidiary, Miramax, from distributing Michael Moore’s latest documentary film Fahrenheit 911. The film is supposed to be very critical of George W. Bush and apparently links him to several prominent Saudis involved in the September 11 terrorist attacks. I’m all for free speech, but sometimes it’s not the wisest move to give someone too much of an audience when what they are saying usually amounts to propaganda. Sure, give the guy an audience, but don’t put it in thousands of theaters and foist it upon the general public who’ll take it at face value without any critical thought.
My opinion of Michael Moore was primarily formed after watching Bowling for Columbine. As a documentary, you would think Moore would strive for some semblance of evenhandedness. Instead, he produced one of the most manipulative, onesided commentaries on a subject that I have ever seen. Anyone paying attention would have seen that Moore dominates and manipulates every scene in the film. He accosts his subjects, barely allows them to get a word in edgewise and twists the words that they do manage to get out. I’m not a big fan of the NRA, but even I found it a bit painful to see Moore berating the aging Charleton Heston in his own home. The film took many scenes out of context and joined them together to serve Moore’s end.
The New York Times > National > Disney Forbidding Distribution of Film That Criticizes Bush
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