Blogcritics: Comments on Tonight I saw Fahrenheit 9/11

Comment by Eric Olsen

Wed, 21 Jul 2004 13:50:34 EDT

thanks for the info Corinna!

Comment by Corinna Hasofferett

Wed, 21 Jul 2004 10:20:51 EDT

Eric, it was the mother herself who recalled how she got the message. There is such a scene in the film where the whole family surrounds her lovingly her, and she recalls the nightmare. I've given above a link to Michael Moore's site and there, in an interview to Daniel Fierman at Entertainment Weekly on July 9, 2004 Michael Moore amswers frankly: EW: Talk to me about Lila Lipscomb, the mother of a soldier who died in Iraq. The story of her political conversion makes up roughly the last third of the movie. How did you find her? MM: I didn't know her at all. In the first month or two of the war, I noticed that [some] soldiers had died from Flint. I said we should start calling some of [their relatives] and see if they'll talk to us. The first three people said they would, so immediately we were like, whoa, because military families tend to be more conservative. As we followed Lila's story for three months there was a really interesting arc, because she was essentially this conservative Democrat, very pro-military. And we saw this shift take place over a period of months, and so you see it in the film. EW: So the first time you met her, her son had already died in that helicopter crash? MM: That's right. It was a number of months after her son had died, I can get you the exact dates, but I just constructed it in such a way that you don't know he's dead until [later in the film].

Comment by Eric Olsen

Wed, 21 Jul 2004 08:49:04 EDT

thanks Shark, that was a synchronistic miracle

Comment by Shark

Wed, 21 Jul 2004 08:29:33 EDT

Whoops, delete "all of the above" The correct answer is: "He and his cameras just happened to be hanging around her house for the day" : /

Comment by Shark

Wed, 21 Jul 2004 08:28:15 EDT

Eric, in a synchronistic miracle, the answer to all of the above is "YES". Moore followed her because: 1) she was a huge advocate of the young poor joining the military as a way out 2) her son was in Iraq During the filming, she got the call -- which sorta transformed her from gung-ho to got fucked. BTW: Having seen the film, I was sorta surprised by how little of the "criticisms" we've heard are actually valid. There is obviously an emotional element added due to the order of editing and music (see A. Hitchcock and/or S. Eisenstein for more on that) -- but even if one discounts those -- for the most part, the facts are still facts -- and still pretty damning of our frat boy Saudi sucking Asterisk President.

Comment by Eric Olsen

Wed, 21 Jul 2004 08:03:49 EDT

I haven't seen the movie, but how could Moore have "documentary" footage of a mother receiving the news of her child's death by phone? He and his cameras just happened to be hanging around her house for the day? Did she call him in? Was the scene "recreated"?

Comment by David Flanagan

Wed, 21 Jul 2004 06:01:49 EDT

Corinna, The military's policy is to send two officers to let families know of the death of their loved one. Don't know what happened in the case of the woman in Michael's film, but I do know that that should never have happened. Thanks. David