Yeh dil maange Moore!

Yavnika Khanna  

A compelling 1 hour 56 minute visual treat has certainly succeeded in redefining the "Documentary" genre. This one is much more than 9/11 and the Bush-bashing it is accused of. It's about LIES that have now been used to surmount countries, send young men and women to kill and die. It is about exposing the war in Iraq, the Patriot Act (which was passed without reading it even once!), the pilfering of the 2000 election, the worship of the rich, the corruption in high offices. Fahrenheit 9/11 is hilarious and savage. In a country, where photographing the arrival of soldiers' caskets is officially forbidden, Moore has managed to do the blasphemous- he has shown wartime mayhem and a frustrated militia. Then, come Bush family's business and personal ties with the Bin Laden family. Moore mocks, enthralls and satires, his genius lies herein. In an extraordinary sequence, Bush is shown in an elementary school in Florida at the time of 9/11.And what do you think Bush's reaction was on knowing that the WTC had collapsed? He was blissfully reading 'My Goat'- A picture book! Moore, meanwhile, is rumored to make a similar and intrepid documentary on Tony Blair. Moore rebuffed the rumor in a message on his website headlined: "Sorry to scare you, Tony. Michael Moore was just kidding." Yeh dil maange Moore-You bet!

(The above review was also published in the "Trailer page" of Sunday edition of Hindustan times Next)