Fahrenheit 9/11: A Christian Peacemaker's Response

Usually I do not follow film reviews, but the uproar surrounding Michael Moore's Fahrenheit 9/11, already long before its public release, has been hard to miss. Despite winning both the Palme d'Or and a standing ovation at Cannes, Disney moved to block its distribution by Miramax. And while its opponents claim the film will appeal to Arab terrorists, critics of the present administration and of the war in Afghanistan and Iraq are wildly enthused about its potential to affect the outcome of November's presidential elections.

With the election only five months away, this film will no doubt go down in history as a watershed that can be compared to the assassinations of the Kennedy brothers and Martin Luther King. Something of America's soul died with the killing of these three men, and the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan are threatening to do the same. Regardless of our political bent, we all need to pay attention to the spiritual and political forces that are at work here, which will in the end affect every human being on this planet.

Despite widespread speculation about Mr. Moore's motives for making the film, I was struck by his obvious compassion for humanity. In less than three hours, he offers us a remarkable insight into the human soul. From nighttime searches of Iraqi homes to the screams of mothers - and of those at the World Trade Center on September 11 - Moore captures plenty of heartrending moments. But he doesn't focus only on the civilians trapped in the nightmare and insanity of war; he recognizes the humanity of its unwitting purveyors, whether through the blank stares of twenty-something GIs or the stupefied Congressmen he catches unaware outside their Washington office buildings.

There is much more one could say about the film. Perhaps most striking are those images of the carnage in Iraq: the footage of distraught, grieving parents and grotesquely decaying bodies spliced with interviews of American troops, most of them remarkably candid in their thoughts about the killing they are doing.

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