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Fahrenheit 911
A Personal Response
Usually I do not follow film reviews, but the uproar
surrounding Michael Moore's Fahrenheit 9/11, already long before its public
release, has been hard to miss. Despite winning both the Palme d'Or and a
standing ovation at Cannes, Disney moved to block its distribution by Miramax.
And while its opponents claim the film will appeal to Arab terrorists, critics
of the present administration and of the war in Afghanistan and Iraq are wildly
enthused about its potential to affect the outcome of November's presidential
elections.
With the election only five months away, this film will no
doubt go down in history as a watershed that can be compared to the
assassinations of the Kennedy brothers and Martin Luther King. Something of
America's soul died with the killing of these three men, and the wars in Iraq
and Afghanistan are threatening to do the same. Regardless of our political
bent, we all need to pay attention to the spiritual and political forces that
are at work here, which will in the end affect every human being on this
planet.
Despite widespread speculation about Mr. Moore's motives for
making the film, I was struck by his obvious compassion for humanity. In less
than two hours, he offers us a remarkable insight into the human soul. From
nighttime searches of Iraqi homes to the screams of mothers--and of those at
the World Trade Center on September 11--Moore captures plenty of heartrending
moments. But he doesn't focus only on the civilians trapped in the nightmare
and insanity of war; he recognizes the humanity of its unwitting purveyors,
whether through the blank stares of twenty-something GIs or the stupefied
congressmen he catches unaware outside their Washington office buildings.
There is much more one could say about the film. Perhaps
most striking are those images of the carnage in Iraq: the footage of
distraught, grieving parents and grotesquely decaying bodies spliced with
interviews of American troops, most of them remarkably candid in their thoughts
about the killing they are doing.
Other memorable moments include shots of some of the 5000
soldiers wounded in action, many now amputees working through painful
rehabilitation in institutions like the Walter Reed Army Medical Center. Their
plight may be even worse than those missing or killed in action, because their
whole future is destroyed. How many will end their lives through suicide?
The real sacrifice these men make is summed up in a short
clip of a GI currently on active duty, who says that each time he takes the
life of another person, part of his soul dies. For me, this was the movie's
most striking moment. It is an insight that all of us--combat veteran and
spectator alike--cannot ignore. George Bush may proclaim that none of the dead
in Iraq have died in vain, but I believe this will not be the case until we
ourselves are affected by every death as this young GI is.
As a Christian, I am an ardent believer in nonviolent
conflict resolution as the only weapon able to break the cycle of violence both
in personal and international conflicts. Politics and war will never be the
answer. It is not an issue of Republican or Democrat, liberal or conservative.
Fahrenheit 9/11 confronts us with other choices: anger, resentment and
bitterness or else forgiveness, love and prayer. And this love, prayer, and
forgiveness must extend--especially--to those young men and women fighting for
a cause they do not understand, and to those world leaders who are but puppets
in the grand schemes of power and money. Real change will happen only when we
embrace these positive, constructive weapons and become much more active in praying
and working for a peaceful world.
I left the theater saddened by the specter of so much lying
and confusion: lying that leaves so many people in such a state of fear that
they do anything that is asked of them by our government. But for me, even more
disturbing than the film itself was the reaction of a benumbed public,
stumbling out into the glaring lights of a Saturday afternoon mall. Nothing,
apparently, will change these people: They are past the point of being shaken
or moved or angry, and so they file the experience away, another experience of
free speech and artistic expression which is, after all, a right in a democracy
such as ours. As long as we can see films like this, they say, the system is
working.
But I was left thinking of the words of Jesus in Luke 7:
"To what, then, can I compare the people of this generation? What are they
like? They are like children sitting in the marketplace and calling out to each
other: 'We played the flute for you, and you did not dance: we sang a dirge,
and you did not cry.' For John the Baptist came neither eating bread nor
drinking wine, and you say, 'He has a demon.' The Son of Man came eating and
drinking, and you say, 'Here is a glutton and a drunkard, a friend of tax
collectors and "sinners."' But wisdom is proved right by all her
children."
Johann Christoph Arnold Johann Christoph Arnold is the author of ten books and a pastor in the Bruderhof Communities.
Email: Johann Christoph Arnold
Bruderhof Communities
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