Mary Callahan-Press Democrat
Fahrenheit 911 Stirs Passions
Sat Jun 26, 2004 13:52
172.192.103.90

Fahrenheit 9/11" sold out theaters around Sonoma County on Friday, and if filmmaker Michael Moore intended to stir passions with his cinematic offering on the Bush administration and the war in Iraq, it appears he has succeeded.
Though many moviegoers shared Moore's critical views of the war and the White House before seeing his film, they said they left the theater with a new fire in their souls.
"Everybody should see this movie," Smokey Leal declared after leaving one of nine sold-out screenings at Santa Rosa's Rialto Cinemas. "It's chilling. It's startling. It made me sick to my stomach."
"I was frightened, disillusioned. Now I'm irate," said another Rialto patron, Robert Becklund of Santa Rosa, a self-described "rather conservative, timid old man."
The film opened Friday after weeks of buildup, starting when Disney refused to distribute it and building when it won top honors at the Cannes Film Festival.
Sonoma County theater managers said advance sales were practically unprecedented, and people on both ends of the political spectrum are talking about using it to rally support in the fall election.
As they left theaters on Friday, many patrons spoke of lies revealed, corporate cronyism, death and devastating scenes of American and Iraqi casualties.
They were undone by scenes involving the transformation of a woman in Moore's hometown of Flint, Mich., whose family legacy of military service ultimately finds her mourning the loss of her son in Iraq, and by the Iraqi mother begging Allah to explain why her son was lost.
They were troubled by scenes of military recruiters encouraging young men and women with few or no other opportunities -- many of them people of color -- to join the service.
"Fury," was the main reaction of Virginia Harris of Santa Rosa. "Fury at the American people, fury at the government, fury at how we do not put any value on the lives of people of color. Just plain fury."
Mina Newman said the film reflected a "legacy of racism and classism in the country."
"And what have we done to stand up against this war on a consistent level?" asked her friend Celeste Austin of Santa Rosa. "Let us not forget -- our sons, and Iraqis."
Showings nearly sold out
Despite efforts by some conservatives to persuade theater owners to boycott the film, "Fahrenheit 9/11" opened in five theaters around the county, all of them selling out or nearly selling out each showing, managers said.
The Rialto, which devoted two screens, added a 10:30 p.m. show Friday after advance ticket sales forced them to turn away many who wanted to see it earlier.
Sebastopol Cinemas 9 manager Margaret Gendreau, calling demand for the film "unprecedented," described it as "the movie event of at least a decade."
"The phone has been ringing off the hook -- well it's been ringing for weeks," she said, "but for the last two days, we've needed someone just to answer the phone on it."
Line stretches down block
In Sonoma, some people arrived 90 minutes early, setting up lawn chairs at the front of a line that stretched down the block, Sebastiani Theater manager Roger Rhoten said.
The film also is showing at the Airport 12 Stadium in north Santa Rosa and the Rohnert Park Stadium 16.
Bush supporters said they might mount protests inside theaters over the July 4 weekend, and some Bush opponents are hosting parties next week to urge people to go out and see Moore's film.
Politics was on display outside theaters Friday as Jim McFadden, a music teacher and member of the Sonoma Democratic Club, registered voters at the Rialto, wearing a sign on his hat that said, "Are you registered to vote? If not, register, right here! Right now!"
Others passed out fliers outside the Airport theater and Sebastopol Cinemas, some lambasting Bush, others suggesting liberal Web sites.
Interviews with some of those waiting to see the 110-minute film, and others coming out at the end, made it clear Moore's film was largely a sermon preached to the choir, at least in Sonoma County.
But some said they tried to go in with a critical eye, like Mac Steiger of Forestville, who saw the movie at the Airport cinema, expecting "to find some fault with it," but instead finding it simply "amazing."
Among those still waiting to get in, Kathy Twers, whose son is a Marine serving in Iraq now, said she simply wanted to "find out the truth" for her son.
She attended with six others -- many wearing John Kerry campaign buttons and buttons featuring a photo of Twers' son, Jan Hulke.
Said friend Candi Larson, "We believe the importance of this movie is to open up conversation -- not to swallow it hook, line and sinker."

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