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Jul. 13th, 2004 09:42 amFinally saw Fahrenheit 9/11. What an amazing piece of work. Moore's narrative style is really developing a much more nuanced flow and complexity. This seemed to be the most coherent and even-handed of his films to date (although I haven't seen The Big One, which I've heard is very well-done).
One comment back to all the people who have seen it already. I read from several people that they "wished he would put the camera down and give that poor woman a hug" (or variations on that). So I was watching for what they were talking about because I had heard it so many times. Because I was prepped for it, I think I noticed something that they might not have. Assuming they were talking about the scene near the end where Lila goes to the White House and breaks down when she finds it more difficult than she anticipated, I think that Moore *did* put the camera down. In the shot you can see there is another camera behind her (that quickly gets out of the shot). The main camera shows her bent over from her grief. But then there is a definite cut, and the next shot seems to be from the other camera that was behind her. I don't think this was an immediate jump, because Lila is in a different position relative to the things around her, and she has obviously composed herself.
I guess what I'm saying is that, contrary to the critiques I've read about this situation, I think Moore *did* put the camera down. Whether or not he "gave her a hug" is open to conjecture, but he did fairly obviously give her some time to compose herself. And actually, I'm glad that we don't see him giving her a hug onscreen, or comforting her in any obvious way because that would have felt very emotionally manipulative, and I would probably have interpreted it as an attempt by Moore to become character in her grief, which I would have had problems with.
I think that turning the cameras off, giving her some time to compose herself until she felt comfortable to restart, and then switching angles to smooth out the disjunction caused by such a cut, was a subtle and sympathetic way of handling the situation.
One comment back to all the people who have seen it already. I read from several people that they "wished he would put the camera down and give that poor woman a hug" (or variations on that). So I was watching for what they were talking about because I had heard it so many times. Because I was prepped for it, I think I noticed something that they might not have. Assuming they were talking about the scene near the end where Lila goes to the White House and breaks down when she finds it more difficult than she anticipated, I think that Moore *did* put the camera down. In the shot you can see there is another camera behind her (that quickly gets out of the shot). The main camera shows her bent over from her grief. But then there is a definite cut, and the next shot seems to be from the other camera that was behind her. I don't think this was an immediate jump, because Lila is in a different position relative to the things around her, and she has obviously composed herself.
I guess what I'm saying is that, contrary to the critiques I've read about this situation, I think Moore *did* put the camera down. Whether or not he "gave her a hug" is open to conjecture, but he did fairly obviously give her some time to compose herself. And actually, I'm glad that we don't see him giving her a hug onscreen, or comforting her in any obvious way because that would have felt very emotionally manipulative, and I would probably have interpreted it as an attempt by Moore to become character in her grief, which I would have had problems with.
I think that turning the cameras off, giving her some time to compose herself until she felt comfortable to restart, and then switching angles to smooth out the disjunction caused by such a cut, was a subtle and sympathetic way of handling the situation.
