Rating summary

Movie		4.0
Video		3.5
Audio		3.0
Extras		3.5
Overall		4.0

Fahrenheit 9/11 Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman November 9, 2020

For anyone caught up in the "drama" surrounding the 2020 Presidential election, drama which is still taking up huge amounts of airtime and bandwidth on the internet as this review is going live, you may want to spend just a few minutes watching the opening of Fahrenheit 9/11 to either reacquaint yourself (if you were around then) or acquaint yourself (if you weren't around them) with the "drama" surrounding the 2000 Presidential election. Suffice it to say, the more things change, the more they remain the same, and much as invocations of election fraud, outright theft and appeals to the Supreme Court may seem completely au courant, Fahrenheit 9/11 makes it distressingly clear that, as au courant as they may well be, they're also a potent example of another French phrase, namely déjà vu. Much as with some of Moore's other work, there's an undeniable "heart on his sleeve" aspect to how Moore presents his information, especially once he segues from more generalist documenting of the lead up to September 11, 2001 and the unsettling events which followed it to more personal issues, like the impact of the Iraq war on some Michigan families.

There's little doubt that Fahrenheit 9/11 was engineered to be part of another Presidential election, namely 2004, when George W. Bush was up for reelection, and much of the debate that year stemmed from his handling of both the tragedy of September 11, 2001 and the resultant war(s) which ensued. There's obviously no doubt where Moore comes down on all of this, and his very skillfully assembled collection of clips may in fact be unabashedly skewed and screed like, but those elements don't necessarily mean they're unpersuasive.

Moore is often seen as an unrepentant Far Left "hack" (at least he's perceived that way by many on the Right), and Fahrenheit 9/11 probably won't do much to disabuse those inclined to think of him that way of that opinion. Still, Moore raises some serious questions about motives and the interlinked fates of the Bushes and Saudis, and while those may be uncomfortable questions for some, others will no doubt feel they're worthy of examination. Those questions probably come more fully into focus once Moore starts documenting the personal impact the Iraq conflict had on various people, and there's some really gut wrenching material in this regard as Fahrenheit 9/11 centers in on emotion, something Moore often gets to via some wending routes, but which here is undeniably effective.

Fahrenheit 9/11 Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Fahrenheit 9/11 is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of MVD Marquee Collection, an imprint of MVD Visual, with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 1.78:1. As with many documentaries culled from such a wide variety of source material, there's a probably unavoidably heterogeneous look here. The best looking sequences are the contemporary interview and "man on the street" elements, which feature nice detail levels and a completely natural looking palette. A lot of the source material is fairly ragged, and it's not unusual to see upscaling artifacts and other baked in video elements like ghosting.

Fahrenheit 9/11 Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Fahrenheit 9/11 features only lossy Dolby Digital tracks in either 5.1 or 2.0 (the disc menu incorrectly states the 2.0 track is LPCM). This piece frankly doesn't offer a hugely ambitious sound design, and as such the lossy audio probably suffices well enough, if not absolutely optimally (at least for audiophiles). All of the talking head material sounds fine, as does the out and about sequences featuring Moore and others. Some of the archival video can sound a bit ragged at times, at least relatively speaking. Optional English subtitles are available.

Fahrenheit 9/11 Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• The Release of Fahrenheit 9/11 (480i; 11:25) is an archival piece documenting the film's screening at Cannes. There's lots of fun candid footage in this.


• Eyewitness Account from Samara, Iraq (480i; 18:05) is a fascinating interview with Swedish journalist Urban Hamid, who was embedded with Charlie Company in 2003.


• Lila Lipscomb at the Washington, D.C. Premiere (480i; 4:40) offer some home video remarks.


• Montage: The People of Iraq on the Eve of Invasion (480i; 8:25)


• New Scene: "Homeland Security, Miami Style" (480i; 3:00) also briefly features my home state of Oregon, weirdly enough.


• Outside Abu Grhaib Prison (480i; 7:01) shows a 2004 event where prisoners were scheduled to be released.


• Extended Interview: More with Abdul Henderson (480i; 7:33) features the Marine Corporal.


• Arab American Comedians - Their acts and experiences after 9/11 (480i; 10:37)


• Condoleezza Rice's 9/11 Commission Testimony (480i; 8:09)


• George W. Bush's Rose Garden press briefing after 9/11 Commission Appearance (480i; 5:28)


• Trailers includes Fahrenheit 9/11 (1080p; 2:08), along with trailers for other releases by MVD Visual.

Fahrenheit 9/11 Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Even those who may feel they're diametrically opposed to Michael Moore on virtually any sociopolitical subject imaginable may admire Fahrenheit 9/11 at least as an example of what "montage theory" can do to influence people. Moore makes a case which is at least reasonably cogent suggesting there were all sorts of "shenanigans" leading up to both the horrors of September 11, 2001 as well as its aftermath. That said, there's no question that he has structured this piece to sway opinion, and as such it's not an "objective" documentary in the traditional sense. This release has decent looking video, at least when understood within the context of varying source material, but audio is unfortunately only lossy. The supplemental package is quite well done. With caveats noted, Recommended.