Please Note: As a franchise organisation, titles and prices may vary between the physical stores and this website.

The temperature where freedom burns!

The title of Michael Moore's new film, Fahrenheit 9/11 is a reference to the famous Ray Bradbury novel (and 1966 film by Francois Truffaut), Fahrenheit 451, about a futuristic society in which the written word is outlawed and all books are burned. Fahrenheit 451 is the temperature at which paper burns. One of the catchlines being used for Moore’s film is “The temperature where freedom burns”. If you haven’t already guessed it, this is not a love letter to President George W Bush.

Moore’s censure of the Bush administration begins with the contentious presidential election in 2000 and continues its attack up to and following the events of September 11.

Acting as narrator, but on screen less than usual, Moore looks at Bush's family ties with the Saudis. He questions how – just after September 11 – 24 members of the Bin Laden family were allowed to leave the US with White House approval. Moore examines his country's war with Iraq and its consequences, making observations that are both scathing and revealing. Along with the sardonic and often humorous approach that we have come to expect from the movie maker (his efforts to persuade certain Congressmen to enlist their own kids for the war, for example) there are disturbing images associated with the war and moving ones such as his interview with a woman who reads the last letter from her son who died in Iraq.

As always, Moore has much to say and he presents it compellingly in a film that is entertaining and provocative. At the Cannes Film Festival it received a 15-minute standing ovation and its highest award, the Palme d’Or. It has been and continues to be surrounded by controversy. It's one of the must-see films of the year.