Unlike Jim C., I actually got to see “Farenheit 9/11″ today. It wasn’t sold out, either. (But then, I saw it at the local suburban multiplex on the big screen, not at the downtown art houses.)

It was the first show of the day, but the theater was about three-quarters full. The audience cheered and clapped at the end for at least five minutes; I’d never seen anything like it at a movie before. (Click here for Atrios’s take.)

You’ve probably read enough by now to feel like you’ve seen it already, so I won’t recap - except to say none of the critics have mentioned what is, to me, one of the most shocking facts brought to life: That not one member of the U.S. Senate came forward to co-sign the House objection to the 2000 election certification.

Not one.

Should you go see it? Yes, absolutely, whether you like Michael Moore or not. Is there anything your teenager shouldn’t see? Not that I can see. (The much-vaunted Saudi beheading scene is so grainy and the figures involved so small, I wouldn’t have known what it was without the subtitles.)

By the way, here’s a rebuttal from Moore and Craig Unger of the comments made by Michael Isikoff about the film:

It would be one thing if Isikoff had simply made an honest error; but that clearly is not the case. When he called me, I specifically told Isikoff that the evacuation process involved brief interviews of the bin Ladens which fell far short of the kind of intense criminal investigation that should have gotten underway after the murder of nearly 3,000 people. The worst crime in American history had just taken place two days earlier, and the FBI did not even bother to check the terror watch lists. Isikoff omitted all that. Instead, he put words in my mouth that are simply not in the movie.

Isikoff also wrongly asserts that the Saudi “flights didn’t begin until September 14 — after airspace reopened.” In fact, as I reported in House of Bush, House of Saud, the first flight took place on September 13, when restrictions on private planes were still in place. According to the St. Petersburg Times, that flight has since been corroborated by authorities at Tampa International Airport. Isikoff knew all this. I told him. I even gave him the names of two men who were on that flight and told him how to get in touch with them. But Isikoff left all that out as well — as he did other information that did not suit his agenda. In dismissing the Bush-Saudi ties, Isikoff even omits the fact that more than $1.4 billion in investments and contracts went from the House of Saud to companies in which the Bushes and Cheney have been key figures — all of which is itemized in my book. Isikoff begins his article by asking, “Can Michael Moore be believed?” The real question should be whether Michael Isikoff can be believed. Clearly, the answer is no.
Craig Unger
New York City, NY