Bush-whacked

I don't usually go to the cinema for films on first release; I tend to wait until they come out on the second run in the Prince Charles, where the price is a fraction less.

But I made an exception on Saturday, with Michael Moore's Fahrenheit 9/11, which has been receiving favourable press and condemnation in equal measure.

The trick is in the editing. Moore cleverly splices phrases and public statements made by leading Republicans and Bush at key moments, usually just after the film-maker has made an observation, sending up the President and his cronies.

Meanwhile, he also follows a woman from his hometown who encouraged her children to enlist in the army, only to come to terms with his death and her doubt about the war in Iraq. I don't think I was the only one in the (packed-out) theatre to feel uneasy as the camera continued to roll on with her grief visible for all to see.

I haven't yet seen Moore's Bowling for Columbine, but I remember his TV Nation series. They used to be rather like the Mark Thomas Comedy Product, with the politicians and their utterances held up for ridicule. But this film had less of the stunts (e.g. encouraging congressmen to sign their kids up in the army, or reading the Patriot Act to them through an ice cream van) and much more bitterness at its heart.

And that almost does for the film. Moore is angry - and it shows. At times it almost veers into a rant. As for the conspiracy theories which he's constantly pilloried for by the right-wing media, I kept a close on his comments. Sure, he raises questions linking the Bushes with the bin Ladens and elements of the Taliban (including through Bush's father and his business associates), but does it all add up to a conspiracy? I doubt it; it's most likely a case of looking after number one.

The film's desired to make you leave the theatre in a rage - and it certainly did with me. But I knew I was being manipulated, thanks to some very clever editing. It will not necessarily convert waverers in the upcoming election, but it does preach to the converted and may well encourage Bush-haters to really get out there and make sure that he and his lot are kicked out.

In fact, I'm sure that some of the film's profits will go to the Democrat cause. Since I can't help in any other way I may go see the film again (someone wants to see it with me) to help raise my contribution (and bring a torch and book to read during it).

As if Moore's film wasn't enough, I wake up this morning to hear that there's talk (albeit it extreme) of delaying the US election on account of an as yet unidentified terrorist threat. Moore ends his film on what some right-wingers may well find offensive - a reading from George Orwell's Big Brother, where the point of war is not to win over the external enemy, but to keep the domestic populace docile and maintain the present social system - but this morning's news more than ever shows the lengths to which this administration will go.

Sometimes I wish Hollywood stopped making films of the Second World War and examined one of its main origins: the rise of Hitler. While I wouldn't suggest that Bush is in the mould of a Hitler (or even a Mussolini), it's worth remembering that the Nazis came to power on the basis of having won the most seats in a democratically elected Parliament, following an economic crisis which paralysed Germany and the wider world.

He was offered the Chancellorship with the Nazis as one party in a coalition. They thought they could contain him. But a month later the first decree rolled off the lines, suspending certain civil liberties.

I remember being taught all this at GCSE level; it must never happen again. Yet what do we do? Over the last three years the American (and British) governments have stressed the need for certain sacrifices - to give up liberties, to imprison people without charge - and now maybe even defer the public's democratic right to elect representatives for the people.