"Fahrenhype 9/11" seeks to set the record straight

By Lesley Nickus
Online Forty-Niner
Staff Writer

On Oct. 29, The Conservative Student Union and the Long Beach College Republicans sponsored a screening of "Fahrenhype 9/11," a film that was made in response to Michael Moore's hit documentary "Fahrenheit 9/11."

I went into the movie expecting it to be a number of Republicans with their reactions to the "realities" in Moore's film but what "Fahrenhype 9/11" actually ended up being was a documentary-type film, including interviews and narration by Democrats as well as Republicans, clearing up a lot of the vague issues that Moore addresses in "Fahrenheit 9/11."

What I expected to be an emotion-laden propaganda film, similar to that of Moore's, was actually quite educational.

The film itself was full of the type of information anyone would like to know after watching "Fahrenheit 9/11." It addresses many issues, such as what President Bush was doing when he got the news of the attacks on September 11, 2001, as well as his "dealings" with the Bin Laden family and the truth about the tunneling project Moore alludes to in his movie.

There are two main differences between "Fahrenhype 9/11" and "Fahrenheit 9/11." Moore's film uses a lot of music and creative devices to evoke emotion and in this respect, it is more entertaining than "Fahrenhype 9/11." A lot of credibility, however, is lost in order to gain the entertainment aspect of the film. Moore uses a great deal of visual and auditory stimulus in his movie in order to distract viewers from the fact that not all of his claims are valid or even completely researched.

"Fahrenhype 9/11," on the other hand, uses almost no emotional motivators, thus leaving it seemingly more credible but less entertaining. Sitting through the 75-minute movie was like watching the History Channel: extremely informative, but somewhat dull. Of course, entertainment was not the goal of "Fahrenhype 9/11," information was, which, in that respect, it accomplished rather well.

The second major difference between the two films is where the research is coming from. Moore did his own research, found his subjects and essentially created his movie on his own. Granted, he took interviews from other venues and decided to use them in his film, but it was in no part a collaborative effort. This poses an issue that is addressed in "Fahrenhype 9/11." Although the brainchild of David Copel, "Fahrenhype 9/11" was created by a group of people to clarify the truths and lies in Moore's film. By joining together, the film's creators were able to come up with a more organized, in-depth view of the war in Iraq, the conspiracy theories set forth by Moore and presents the rest of the information Moore chose to leave out of "Fahrenheit 9/11" — information that many people deserve to know and wonder about.

According to communications major Kinsey Birch, an antendee of the screening, "After watching ‘Fahrenheit 9/11' I questioned our government and that made me nervous, but that's just one persons point of view, what about the other side of the story?" "Fahrenhype 9/11" gives viewers that side.

When asked why the Conservative Student Union decided to sponsor a screening of the film, representative Karisa Rojas responded: "We are showing these films to clarify some of the rhetoric that Moore has brought up against the current administration." And clarify it did.

Considering the views expressed in the film are those of Democrats, Republicans and people that feel they were misrepresented in Moore's film, the message is less anti-Moore and more pro-information, with no party bias. If you are wondering what the facts are behind "Fahrenheit 9/11," "Fahrenhype 9/11" is a great movie to see.