one
Three years after the 9/11 incident, Michael Moore's documentary "Fahrenheit 9/11" was released. It won the Palme d'Or and also won the second-longest closing applause in Cannes history.
But it’s very strange. As a film reflecting and questioning the 9/11 incident, its beginning is the scene where the people of Florida celebrated Gore’s victory in the vote-blooming fireworks, stars and stripes waving across the screen, and people’s brilliant smiles. It seems to be celebrating another successful democratic election in support of the American giant machine turning as usual, a typical American style scene.
Even our voice-over is asking:
Was it just a dream?
The cheerful music sounded, and Gore had the green light all the way... Hey, wait, the picture gradually became strange: the Fox insider who was framing George Bush was his cousin, and the chairman of the election committee also managed the vote counting and the Supreme Court. A "just" decision was made... "We have a new president, George W. Bush."
And the cheerful music remains the same.
If a member of the House of Representatives raises an objection to this, he/she only needs the joint signature of a senator to support it. So we saw that one after another congressmen came forward to raise objections, abnormal vote counting, fraudulent practices for personal gains, and deprivation of African Americans' right to vote...
However, none of the senators jointly signed it.
So it goes.
In the eight months before 9/11, George Bush spent 42% of his time on vacation, sailing on a yacht, playing golf, walking the dog, pretending to be a cowboy... it can be called the American version of Zhu Huzhao (bushi)
In the face of the reporter's interview, his hesitating words were like a low-profile version of "Yes! Minister" like this:
-What are you going to do next time today?
-Karen Hughes is coming over, we have some things to deal with... She is coming here, we have to solve some things, some problems. I'm working on some motions...we...you will understand, I have to make some decisions here, and we will announce them when the time comes.
Accompanied by the dull guitar sound, the images of the president, the secretary of defense and other dignitaries being tidied up by the staff before the start of the program alternated with the list of film cast members, and the title finally appeared——
Fahrenheit 9/11.
two
A black screen lasting several minutes. Only the noisy background sound—two crashes, crashing rumblings, falling objects, people’s screams and prayers—continuously reminds us that the tragedy has happened.
Then the picture gradually faded in, and people were still looking at the outside of the painting like a nightmare, looking at the place that was once a symbol of the prosperity of human civilization.
Thick smoke. Fragments. Search notices.
At the same time, what is Bush doing? He was in the car going to an elementary school in Florida. After learning of the first plane attack, he still did not change his itinerary. After the second plane attacked, the White House Chief of Staff walked into the classroom and said in his ear: "The country is under attack."
The picture freezes in the president's dazed expression, suddenly realizing that he has lost control of reality, accompanied by a narration from my favorite documentary:
He didn't know what to do because no one told him what to do, no agents rushed in and took him to a safe place. Mr. Bush just sat there and continued to read "My Pet Goat" to the children. Nearly seven minutes passed, and no one took any action. When Bush was sitting in the Florida classroom, was he thinking about it, if only he had to spend a little more time thinking about it at work? What if you had at least held a meeting with counter-terrorism officials to discuss terrorist threats since taking office? Maybe Bush is thinking why he wants to cut the FBI’s anti-terrorism funding? …Time passed by, and George Bush was still sitting in the classroom. Is he thinking, "I have been mixing up with a bunch of bad guys. Which one of them fucked me? My dad sold him. The guy with less arms? (referring to Saddam) or the fundamental religious group that I visited in the state when I was governor? Or the Saudis? Damn, that’s this group of people. I better blame this. On the guy's head."
The reason why I like this passage may be that it has lost the objective and rationality of the documentary in our stereotype, and has maximized its political attributes. It is more like an essay about a thief, a poem full of irony, joking, questioning, and criticism, a poem full of anger but extremely restrained.
Three
Flights across the United States were halted and hundreds of people were arrested at the airport just because they were from the Middle East. At the same time, the Bin Laden family was able to fly back.
The director matched this with a wonderful bgm:
We gotta get out of this place, if it's the last thing we ever do～
The following film focuses on the interests of Bush and the Bin Laden family. Among them, the most shocking fact is this:
The Bin Laden family invested in a defense company of the Carlisle Group, which means that if the United States increases defense spending, the Bin Laden family will benefit from it.
I remembered the "Catch-22". Jossarian walked in the dilapidated and dead immortal city of Rome. He thought: " I looked up and saw people making money. I couldn't see heaven, saints and angels. I saw people using every noble impulse and Every human tragedy makes a lot of money. "
Yes. Carlisle Group went public in the six weeks after 9/11 and made 237 million in one day.
After 9/11, Bush still tried his best to prevent the initiation of an investigation into the incident, and even equipped the Saudi embassy with the most adequate defensive force among the envoys in the United States.
On the second day of the 9/11 incident, high-level officials began to suggest to their subordinates to launch an attack on Iraq, but the number of troops sent to Afghanistan was negligible.
They only sent 11,000 people to Afghanistan, and there are even more police officers in Manhattan.
The U.S. military did not enter the area where bin Laden was hiding for the next two months.
While the high-level officials did not have the slightest success in anti-terrorism, they issued a large number of early warnings of terrorist attacks in the country.
As the psychologist in the film said:
You can create a continuous atmosphere of terror to panic the people. They play us between the palms of the hand, and they create ambiguous news that makes people go crazy. When the people panic, you can ask them to do anything. It's like training a dog.
In this way, the government has gained further power to monitor the people, because in order to fight terrorists, this is their "necessary sacrifice."
Wanton
The Iraq war started.
The United States has fallen into a frenzy of patriotism. People continue to believe in justice and democracy, and no one cares about the purpose of this war. They watched the situation on the news every day, but they couldn’t see the scenes of the coffins of the fallen soldiers being transported back to the country, the grief and anger of ordinary people in Iraq, or the excitement of the soldiers being slowly diminished by the bloody reality. The pain and confusion.
Iraq became another Vietnam.
In the United States, the number of unemployed people has increased dramatically, and the military has begun to recruit people from the bottom of the slums to join the army. While expressing its respect for the soldiers, the Bush administration is proposing to cut the salaries and subsidies of the soldiers.
A soldier died in battle, and the War Department sent back his salary for this month, but it was five days short because he died and was absent from work.
It's so fucking absurd.
Five
The last part of the film is placed on a mother.
As a typical American people, she is hardworking, patriotic, religious, and full of hope, looking forward to the victory of the war. She once hated people who opposed the Vietnam War, thinking that they were insulting her beliefs.
Until the news of her child's death in battle came.
She received the last letter from her son, expressing her joy at having one more nephew, her fear of the uncertain future, and her resentment towards the president.
I am in good spirits and everything is normal. I miss you all very much. Thank you for your bible, book and candy. We all feel that nothing will happen recently, and I can't wait to go home and return to my original life.
She came to Washington, D.C. because of work, and she wanted to take a casual look at the White House. She saw a foreign woman sitting on the ground by the side of the road, shouting, "Bush killed the child. Iraqi child."
She responded, "My child was also killed."
The woman said, "Lies can kill people. Including your children. They have nothing to do in Iraq. So they kill young Americans. For what? For oil. Bush is a terrorist."
She agreed and gradually choked up.
A woman walked nearby. She shouted, "She is acting. He is not a terrorist."
The mother turned to look at the woman who came by, "My child was killed."
"Where did you die?"
"You told me that my son's death was not acting."
"Where did you die?"
"He died in Kabbalah. April 2. That was not acting. My son died."
The foreign woman was still muttering to herself angrily, waving her hands.
The woman was silent for a moment and replied:
"Many people there also died. Blame the base."
The mother left there. She told the director:
We are facing ignorance, the ignorance of ordinary people. Because they don't understand the truth, people think they understand it, but it's not the case. I once felt that I knew it, but that was not the case.
She still couldn't help crying.
I remembered the sentence in the "Bible": "At the moment Jesus said, Father, forgive them. Because they don't know what they have done. "
But forgiveness is too difficult. It's so difficult that a strong mother can't bear it.
land
Knowing that none of the senators' children are serving, Michael Moore decides to do something. He stopped one councilor after another and asked if they would let their children join the army. With awkward smiles on their faces, they left bluntly, or did not stop at all.
In the camera is Michael Moore, the figure of this chubby bearded man who tried in vain--just as he learned of the "Patriotic Act" before, when the bill that restricts people's rights was implemented without the approval of Congress, he finished reading "Patriotic The whole content of the bill is so futile.
Maybe it was because of the mother's words, maybe simply because of the compassion and anger in his heart, he made this documentary. His behavior always reminds me of Saramago and his words: " I have a good life, but this world is not good. "
I also remembered a sentence that Saramago had hoped would be carved on his tombstone: " Here lies an angry man. "
Postscript
Finally, quote the last narration of the film, which is also a quote from George Orwell:
The question is not whether the war itself is well-known. Victory is impossible. The war is not to win, but to continue. The existence of a hierarchical society is based on poverty and ignorance. This is a reprint of the past, and it is no different from the past. Generally speaking, the purpose of launching war is to ensure that society is on the brink of famine. War is a tool initiated by the ruling group to achieve its own goals, and its purpose is not to win the Eurasian continent or East Asia, but to maintain the current social structure.
The end.
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