I went to see _Farenheit 9*11* today (IMDB:0361596). If you read my blog, you know how I feel about the situation in Iraq and the USA, so on a political level, there was nothing new for me. I knew about the situation in Iraq from reading Riverbend and Faiza, as well as a blog by a US soldier. I had also seen *Bowling for Columbine* (IMDB:0310793), read his last book, *Stupid White Men* (English ISBN: 006098726X, German ISBN: 3492045170)._
What I was totally unprepared for, however, was the images. My TV is not connected, so I never watch the news anymore. I’m not prepared for the kind of gore that hits you in the middle of the movie. Smashed bodies, puddles of blood, burnt faces, charred corpses, crying, wailing, house searches, interrogations in the middle of the night. After a few seconds I had to close my eyes and tears were streaming down my face.
I wonder – what kind of human have you become if you do *not* cry? What kind of people will come back from Iraq? What kind of people will grow up in Iraq? What the hell have you done?
Sometimes I try to tell myself to not do as much US bashing. After all, there is a secret police, concentration camps, and torture in a long list of countries. Some of them I visit for holidays. There’s a crucial difference, however: Tunesia didn’t invade another country. Egypt doesn’t put pressure on every single international body I know. Switzerland doesn’t import stupid copies of stupid Russian laws (can you say DMCA and Patriot Act?)... The US matters more. I care more.
One of the weirdest moments was when Claudia told me on the way home that she thought Michael Moore was a corageous man for doing the movie. I was astonished. To think him corageous you would have to accept that the US was no longer a free country. And she answered yes, if the FBI comes to visit you after you say something about Bush, Al Qaida, Bin Laden, and the oil after working out in a fitness studio (one of the scenes in the movie) – then you’re no longer living in a free country.
#USA #Movies