Vex, lie and videotape

Arguably the best-publicized political-cultural phenomenon of recent months has been the release of Michael Moore’s Fahrenheit 9/11, a pseudo-documentary whose purpose, the director, has affirmed, is to remove President George W. Bush from office. While there is much to dislike in the film, from its tendentiousness to its glaring non-sequiturs, it is one of those works that raises a host of disturbing questions about the boundaries of free expression. The first is whether a film openly touted as a political bludgeon can be a reliable statement on the Bush administration’s policies toward the war on terrorism and Iraq? While documentaries need not be impartial toward their subject matter, they do enjoy an atypical veneer of objectivity by virtue of their supposedly filming reality. Fahrenheit 9/11 was provided the added advantage of being awarded the Palme D’Or at Cannes, effectively endorsing the film’s artistic credibility. But is this credibility merited? Partisans