I wanted to post this title.. ;-|
'Fahrenheit 9/11' Provokes Arab Reactions (and projectile vomiting)
Posted on 08/14/2004 2:16:27 PM PDT by NormsRevenge
BEIRUT, Lebanon - Michael Moore's "Fahrenheit 9/11" is provoking strong Arab reaction. Kuwait banned it, Jordan tried to cut it, Syria has not decided, and Saudi commentators are denouncing it.
Many Arab moviegoers say with a twinge of envy that they wish the region, where free speech is for the most part restricted, had its own Moore. Some say it reinforces their bad image of the United States and shows Americans what their own media does not.
A few believe Moore is unfair to President Bush (news - web sites) and British Prime Minister Tony Blair (news - web sites).
"When he condemned the war in Iraq (news - web sites) ... he pictured it this way: Baghdad was happy and safe until cowboys Bush and Blair came," Saudi columnist Reem al-Saleh wrote in Kuwait's Al-Siyassah daily.
"He ignored 30 years of muscle-flexing invasions, villages massacred by chemical weapons ... millions of bodies, and mass graves. He has no right to hide the full truth."
Saddam invaded Kuwait in 1990 and was driven out by the U.S.-led 1991 Gulf War (news - web sites). Many Kuwaitis are grateful to the United States and enduringly suspicious of Saddam.
Gianluca Chacra, whose Dubai-based company released the film in the Middle East, said attendance is at blockbuster proportions.
"We were quite scared that due to the Saudi content it might not pass," Chacra said.
In the United Arab Emirates, the information minister, in an unusual step, asked to see it first, then approved it. In Jordan, the censors insisted the Saudi content be cut, Chacra said. They later took the film to "higher authorities," who OK'd it in full, he added.
Kuwait banned the film on the spot, Chacra said. He did not bother showing it to the censors in Saudi Arabia, where there are no movie theaters, only videos.
The movie is playing in the remaining four Gulf Cooperation Council countries. In Syria, Yousef Dakalbab, head of distribution at the government-run Public Cinema Organization, said the film "may be shown or may be banned."
"Fahrenheit 9/11" is playing in Lebanon and Israel and will open in Egypt later this month.
Emerging from a Beirut theater, 22-year-old student Shafiq Nassif said the film showed dead and mutilated Iraqis that Americans do not see much of on their TV screens.
"It's good that Americans can get to see this," he said.
For Radwan Rizk, a 47-year-old Lebanese gym owner, the message was double-edged: Moore's presentation shook his idea of American democracy, yet reinforced it, too.
"I hope that we can come to a point where we can criticize our own governments the way he did — freely," Rizk said.
Dalal el-Bizri, a Lebanese sociologist based in Cairo, Egypt, warned that the movie "should not be allowed to reinforce the hatred that people feel for America."
"If you have a problem with the United States, hatred will not solve it," she said.
In Cairo, 28-year-old Noha Sayed Al-Ahl, who runs an arts and culture advocacy group, did not find the film tendentious.
Moore "used real footage and facts to support his point of view and used as much proof as possible to back up his claims. If he hadn't, somebody would have taken him to court," she said. "He really cares about America and the foreign policies of America and is brave enough to speak his mind and interpret events in an alternative way."
In a Beirut gym, two women in their 40s discussed the movie as they worked out.
"I loved the movie because it showed that Bush was a partner in terrorism through his dealings with the Saudis and (Osama) bin Laden's family," said Sana Rafeh, a preschool teacher.
Housewife Rabab Itani said Moore's take on terrorism was too narrow.
"There are Arabs and Muslims dying from America's policies every day and not only because of the Bush-Saudi connection," she said.
Many said the funniest parts were those depicting Bush, but Jordanian Tareq Khalil said he still believes "America is the most powerful country in the world and Bush is the strongest man."
Sulaiman al-Hattlan, a U.S.-educated Saudi columnist for the Al-Watan newspaper, said Moore lacked objectivity, and made too much of the U.S. Saudi relationship.
"The movie is using the Saudis as scapegoats for domestic, political issues in the U.S.," he said.
Still, al-Hattlan enjoyed "Fahrenheit 9/11."
"In every Arab country we need one Michael Moore or more," he said.
___
Associated Press writers Paul Garwood and Sarah el Deeb in Cairo, Shafika Mattar in Jordan, Tarek al-Issawi in the United Arab Emirates and Albert Aji in Damascus contributed to this report.
I wanted to post this title.. ;-|
'Fahrenheit 9/11' Provokes Arab Reactions (and projectile vomiting)
Michael Moore Defends Disputed Headline
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/ap/people_michael_moore
Thu Aug 12, 6:34 PM ET
BLOOMINGTON, Ill. - Filmmaker Michael Moore makes no apologizes for his Bush-bashing documentary "Fahrenheit 9/11," and his lawyer says he'll make no apologies for its use of an Illinois newspaper headline, either.
The (Bloomington) Pantagraph says the headline, flashed briefly in the film, came from a letter to the editor about the 2000 presidential election recount but was doctored to look like a news story. Even the date was changed.
The newspaper fired off a letter to Moore and his production company last month that it says was lighthearted but symbolic, demanding an apology and $1 in compensatory damages.
But an attorney for Westside Productions replied this week that Moore violated no copyright laws and did nothing misleading.
"Baloney," said Pantagraph President and Publisher Henry Bird, who directed his lawyers to send a follow-up letter asking Moore to explain why material from the paper was altered without permission.
Westside Productions lawyer Devereux Chatillon acknowledged that Moore was two weeks off on the date of the headline, which read: "Latest Florida recount shows Gore won election."
But the mistake "did not make a difference to the editorial point ... and was in no way detrimental to (The Pantagraph)," the New York-based attorney wrote in a letter to the paper.
"Fahrenheit 9/11," which opened in theaters in June, quickly became the first documentary to top $100 million at the domestic box office.
The Pentagraph should take Michael Moore to the cleaners. It is a trademark violation. I'm sure of it.
Coming Soon To the Streets&Parks of NYC
MooreOns On Parade .. A BuZZed-Up Bezerkely Production
"In every Arab country we need one Michael Moore or more"
Okay, load his fat a$$ into a C5A and shove him out over Lebanon.
If you are on dial up and can't view that Video above, transcript is here: CLICK!
Thanks
Oh please, sweethearts, take our Moore. He's big enough that you can spread him around.
I showed no such thing; but did imply it. I suppose the fact that it was a totally false should not detract from her enjoyment.
The only reason the Saudis didn't like it is that Moore actually is critical of them, at least by associating them with the hated Bush.
Oh, you do, you DO have one already:
Fat little rag-topped Muqtada.
"Emerging from a Beirut theater, 22-year-old student Shafiq Nassif said the film showed dead and mutilated Iraqis that Americans do not see much of on their TV screens."
One has to wonder just exactly how many "dead and mutilated Iraqis" killed by Saddam that young Shafiq has seen.
He might also tap into his internet connection and see just how well the American media is complying with his desires.
I wonder how many regular Iraqis Shafiq has spoken to? I would venture not many, if any.
Mr. Moore must be so happy that he is doing the work of the mullahs in spreading his hatred of America to the Islamic world.
Just exactly when does free speech cross the line to sedition or worse?
Anyone ever realize just how similar Moore's actions are to Kerry's back in the early seventies in giving moral support to the enemy? How many more innocent Iraqis and American soldiers will die because of Moore's fictional tale?
Some light reading for Safiq and any other Moore rumpswabs:
www.davekopel.com/Terror/Fiftysix-Deceits-in-Fahrenheit-911.htm
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