Locals react to Moore's new film

Long lines crowded the lobby and entryway of Showplace East 11 cinema Friday where Michael Moore's controversial new movie "Fahrenheit 9/11" opened in Bloomington to sold out crowds. The film, an attack on President Bush and the war in Iraq, was No. 1 at the box office this weekend, grossing close to $8.4 million its first day.\nAmongst a crowd composed largely of IU students for the 9:40 p.m. showing Friday night, former IU-Bloomington Chancellor Sharon Brehm stood waiting for the film to start.\n"I have never seen a Michael Moore film before, but the film has gotten an enormous amount of publicity and I wanted to come and see it for myself," she said. "I expect it to be very interesting, provocative and controversial."\nThe timing of Moore's film release coincides with the upcoming presidential election. Citizens United, a conservative advocacy group, asked the Federal Election Commission Thursday to investigate Moore's television ads for the documentary to determine if they violate campaign finance laws regulating when commercials may feature a presidential candidate. Corporate money cannot be used to air ads identifying a presidential candidate 30 days before his party's nominating convention and 50 days prior to the election.\n"Moore's views are typically in line with mine so I like to give him my money to raise more hype around the movie," said graduate student Allison Porch. "Hopefully it will have an effect on the election."\nGraduate student Kate Sherrill said she thought Moore should be awarded Time magazine's Man of the Year for the movie because of the impact she thought it would have on the election.\nSenior Glenn Coats, however, said he disagreed with Moore's views and his strategy of releasing the film near the election. But he said it should have minimal impact on the results.\n"I don't think it will have much of an effect on the election because he's such a far-out figure," Coats said. "He lives in a different world than the rest of us. He's a hypocrite and it's a distortion of reality."\nThe film depicts Bush's first year in office as one full of vacation and fun and alleges that Bush ignored crucial warnings from the CIA about the Sept. 11 terrorist attack. It also showed the Bush family's connections to the Saudi Arabian royal family whom Moore claims funds al-Qaida.\n"The thing that I like that Michael Moore does that other left-leaning media don't do is that he doesn't use conspiracy theory," said graduate student Emily Nagoski. "The opinions that get expressed are from ordinary people and not radical left-wingers. They are very real."\nMoore showed vivid images of pain and suffering in Iraq and interviews with soldiers who did not want to be there. He used footage of Iraqis crying about how American war efforts had ruined their lives to depict his message that the war in Iraq is wrong.\n"They can't hassle him for his facts in this one," graduate student Andrew Wilson said. "There was a big stink about that with 'Bowling for Columbine.' They can only criticize him for wanting to influence the election and that's a pretty weak argument."\nCoats said he didn't agree with the way Moore puts his films together.\n"He splices things together to serve his purpose," Coats said. "He's really just a propagandist."\nSenior Patrick Ockerse said he didn't agree with the way Moore tries to convince people his movies are documentaries when they are really editorials.\n"He plays on the moods and opinions of his audience rather than showing the straight-out facts," Ockerse said. "It's all shock value. The public needs to know the facts and not be swayed with opinionated pieces like his."\nThe press coverage of "Fahrenheit 9/11" has been considerable even before the Cannes Film Festival because of its daring content. Disney pulled its financial backing and refused to let its subsidiary Miramax release the film due to its political message. Despite Disney's withdrawal of support for the film project, Miramax CEOs Harvey and Bob Weinstein continued their backing of the film and arranged for Lions Gate Films and IFC Films to distribute it. Moore lost his appeal to the Motion Picture Association of America Tuesday to change his film's rating from "R" to "PG-13." The documentary opened nationwide Friday under the stricter restriction.\nOckerse said the problem with Moore's films is that it is difficult to distinguish the propagandist material from the facts. He said it will be interesting to see the right-wing propagandist response to Moore's work. "Michael Moore Hates America," directed by Michael Wilson, comes out August 31 and David T. Hardy and Jason Clarke's "Michael Moore is a Big Stupid White Man" will be released June 29 by Regan Books.\nAndrew Wilson said he thought the controversy over Moore's work and the film's release showed how a free society should work. \n"This is what democracy should look like -- having a big argument," he said. "There are some big issues out there. Let's air them out at the end of the day and let the public know what's going on. Trying to stop this movie from being shown is primitive."\n-- Contact arts editor Jenica Schultz at jwschult@indiana.edu.