PROVOCATIVE DIRECTOR AND political activist Michael Moore’s hotly anticipated documentary Fahrenheit 9/11 finally reached audiences in Cairo this summer. Its arrival was preceded by its celebrity as the winner of the Palme d’Or at this spring’s Cannes Film Festival and the controversy surrounding its release in the US.

Its original distributor, Miramax, refused to release the incendiary film concerning George W. Bush’s election and presidency, his family’s financial connections with the Saudi royal family, and US involvement in Iraq. Lions Gate Films later bought the film’s American distribution rights.

Banned in Saudi Arabia but released in Lebanon, the film has evoked a mixed reception in the region.

Since mid-August, Moore’s film has had a successful run in Cairo theaters. At press time, the documentary had pulled in LE 588,210 at the box office roughly half the take of Youssef Chahine’s AlexandriaNew York. It is a phenomenal figure for any documentary in limited release on just four screens, let alone a foreign-language one.

Cairene moviegoers applauded the film’s irreverence, but greeted its exploration of the facts with a healthy dose of skepticism:

I think the movie deserves neither the publicity nor the fame it has gained worldwide. Michael Moore focused only on how bad George W. Bush is and how he dealt with the 9/11 attacks. By doing this, Moore missed a very important point that Bush is not the main culprit. It is the American foreign policy that has been implemented for years. Instead of using Bush as a scapegoat for all the mistakes America made after 9/11, Moore should have produced a broader documentary about corruption and double standards of US leaders and their brainwashing policies.

I’m really happy to see a movie made by an American that shows scenes of the effect of the US-led war on Iraq that our own state television would not show. I cannot remember that I have seen anything on TV as effective as the woman Moore shows crying and lamenting the deaths of her relatives, or the scene of American soldiers arresting an innocent Iraqi young man on Christmas Eve. We should be ashamed that an American has produced such an issue, while we still keep the truth away from our audiences.

I liked this film not because of the issues it discusses, but because it is funny and lighthearted. I think Egyptian cinemagoers who liked the movie did so for the very same reason. Yes, it is true that it is full of very useful facts, but who would watch a documentary in Egypt if it weren’t this humorous?

I’m now very angry with the Saudis after seeing the film. How much money do they have invested in the United States? One of the analysts in the movie said if the Saudis decide suddenly to withdraw their money from the American banks, it would be a big blow for the American economy. Why don’t Saudis do this to help the Iraqi and Palestinian issues instead of our weak and useless boycott campaigns?

I think all Moore was trying to do is make us sympathize with the American soldiers sent to Iraq and show us how they had no other option. Of course I do not believe that. The Americans have democracy. They had the freedom to choose their own president and they chose Bush, so they all should be blamed and be responsible for their choice.

It’s a shame we don’t have an Arab Michael Moore who has the courage to expose the corruption of the Arab regimes and criticize our leaders. I read in the newspapers that some Arab countries have banned the film and others have censored parts of it. We should be ashamed of ourselves that while non-Arabs are trying to show the truth, we Arabs are trying hard to hide it.

I think Moore is trying to prove the innocence of Americans and put all the blame on Bush and his Saudi friends. He’s just trying to say, “Look at the Saudis they are behind the corruption in the American government.”

I’m not happy with the movie. It makes us hate the Saudis, and Arabs don’t really need any more hatred at the moment. We need to come together because we are now in the eye of the storm that is coming from the Western world. And it is either we unite and be strong, or believe everything that is said about Arab countries and be marginalized by America and its friends.

It seems to me that someone has paid Moore moneyto blacken the image of Bush before the elections. Many of the so-called facts that Moore shows in his movie are a little exaggerated, especially the Saudis’ connection to Bush. I would say the movie has some conspiracy theories that Moore should have backed up.

Despite the fact that I’m happy to see an American movie criticizing Bush’s policies, where were the Americans while Bush and his friends were messing around with the world? Why didn’t people like Moore stand up against the war or America’s foreign policy? Don’t tell me a whole nation was deceived by one guy and a bunch of wealthy Saudis. That’s nonsense.