Posted on 10/11/2004 4:18:32 PM PDT by Former Military Chick
GIESSEN, Germany — Its mere presence compelled some soldiers to do an about-face and duck down another aisle, away from the latest salvo in the debate over the war in Iraq.
Michael Moore’s award-winning film “Fahrenheit 9/11” hit Army and Air Force Exchange Service shelves last week. While some shoppers showed little or no interest in the two-hour documentary, hundreds did, and shelled out $19.95 for it.
“I’m about to buy it,” Spc. Sylvester Charles of Company A, 2nd Battalion, 3rd Field Artillery Regiment, said as he clutched the digital video disc and read the back cover. “I heard it was good.”
The film, highly critical of President Bush, his administration and its decision to invade Iraq, took top honors this May at the annual Cannes Film Festival in France.
Critics expected it to fair well at the Academy Awards early next year. But that was before Moore announced last month on his Web site he would forgo a chance to win another Oscar in favor of an early public release, possibly on TV, before people cast their ballots.
“If there is even the remotest of chances that I can get this film seen by a few million more Americans before election day, then that is more important to me than winning another documentary Oscar,” the independent producer and director wrote.
Popular though it may be, the film has it share of detractors, people who view Moore as an angry man bent on distortions for political purposes.
Some servicemembers are wary, too.
“I really can’t stand the guy,” Pfc. Steve Odell said of Moore as he stood in front of a DVD display rack at the AAFES store in Giessen.
Odell, of Headquarters, Headquarters Company, 1st Battalion, 37th Armor Regiment, added he doesn’t care for “Hollywood celebrities who push their own political agendas.”
Moore’s movie never made it to an AAFES theater marquee. Exchange officials said in mid-August that Moore’s decision to start selling the DVD on Oct. 5 made it unprofitable for them to show it for such a limited time.
Instead, AAFES-Europe placed an order for 5,000 copies of the movie on DVD, said Army Maj. David A. Accetta, an AAFES spokesman in Europe.
When it went on sale Tuesday, business was brisk. In the first three days, AAFES sold nearly 1,800 copies.
“One of my friends told me it’s something I should look at,” Charles said.
In Giessen, where Odell and Charles are stationed, roughly half of the 210 copies at the exchange were sold, according to store manager Greg Hall.
Hall said interest in Moore’s DVD is high, though he’s noticed some soldiers approach the display with a degree of trepidation.
“We figured at least a couple of hundred people would want it,” Hall said, “but there was a little apprehension.”
Well, you know what they say... 'Know thy enemy'.
I think most people who did not see the moview could probably piece it together from what was talked about on various media outlets. Personally, I choose not to see the moview because I know it will infuriate me and I don't see the point in unnecessaryily putting myself through that. Bowling was enough for me.
My old pappy used to say read the Good Book first--then you won't have to read the others. Reading Marx never did near as much good as reading great literature about the mess he made.
So read a review of the tripe.
True. But disinformation is another matter.
I just bought and wrapped that one for my husband, for his birthday.
I can't wait for him to get home, so that we can all watch 'his' new DVD.
This piece of excrement is just another piece of Hollyweird propaganda that I won't see. I have never watched anything itself has made.
Unfortunately, it is the best selling DVD this week on the charts.
If it were a case of nuance, or viewpoint, or argument, sure. In the case of this movie, there is plenty of documentation that it's a pile of trash - designed to mislead. It might be good for a poli-sci class or some such, but unless you're looking for a bad example, why subject yourself to it?
I'd rather live with Bill and Hillary for a day than sit through that waste money($28!!) on that piece of propaganda.
I am VERY PROUD that I haven't seen it and will NEVER see it. Why should I patronize a KNOWN PROPAGANDIST?
My letter below was published in the Florda Times-Union July 3, 2004. I have since learned there are 59 documented deceits in this film.
'FAHRENHEIT 9/11': Film fits definition of propaganda
This is in reply to a letter regarding the movie Fahrenheit 9/11 and the opinion that we should "consider Michael Moore's point of view."
Moore is entitled to his opinion, and I am entitled to look at all the facts and totally reject his opinion in the formulation of mine.
Moore's profession doesn't entitle him to have a bigger say in the future of this country than me or my next door neighbor. The public is also entitled to know the truth of his agenda, which he has acknowledged: defeat of George W. Bush for re-election in November.
Moore has participated in a concerted effort with the anti-Bush group, MoveOn.org, to drive up the attendance of the film to make it No. 1.
Movie critics of print, cable, and broadcast media have properly reviewed this film and collectively said the film contains half-truths and out-of-context information framed in a manner to ridicule the president.
However, the liberal-slanted entertainment box office "media hypers" have assisted Moore and proclaimed Fahrenheit 9/11 the largest opening weekend attendance of a documentary ever. Truth be told, the film more closely fits the definition of "propaganda."
Propaganda is the "systematic propagation of a doctrine or cause or of information reflecting the views and interests of those advocating such a doctrine or cause; material disseminated by the advocates or opponents of a doctrine or cause: wartime propaganda."
The letter writer expresses that his source of news consists of Fox News, The Florida Times-Union and The Wall Street Journal. He goes on to discard the news he receives from Fox as "tools of the party," yet he states that he has read the same information in the Times-Union and The Wall Street Journal. (Fox is owned by News Corp. and has no connection with any political party whatsoever and, according to Nielsen ratings, is the most watched cable news channel across the country).
The fact is that Moore is no more a documentarian than Leni Reifenstahl, the producer who made the Adolf Hitler propaganda movie 70 years ago, glorifying Hitler and the Third Reich.
Moore made a propaganda film that endangers the lives of our brave young servicemen and servicewomen who are in harm's way today in Iraq and Afghanistan. Moore should be tried for sedition.
Enter Sinclair.
Becki
I myself would be hesitant to call something evidence of sedition that I haven't seen myself. But that's just me.
Believe it or not your line about seeing the film before judging it, is the actual talking point that MoveOn.org and Moore put out on their website to sucker the public to see it. They know the emotional factor of being influenced by viewing something as repulsive as charred bodies of kids will outweigh any sense of objectivity about the truthfulness of it. Moore is a very skilled PROPAGANDIST, and F-9/11 is his masterpiece.
The AAFEES management (notice I didn't say leadership) is sorely lacking in judgment by selling this trash. I am sure the Commanding Generals of those units, will NOT be pleased by the effects it has on their efficiency and effectiveness of their units.
Gun Bunnies are not the brightest soldiers....
They were going to see it anyway, protesting it did not hype it. I give no shelter to PROPAGANDISTS, PERIOD. This article is about young GI's getting this movie in the PX. These are not the intellectual type (some, maybe, but as a rule of thumb, these are not news readers), and theya re easily influenced by this PROPAGANDA. Do you get my point about PROPAGANDA yet?
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