THE REAL ONES CHANGED MINDS

LATE ADD:
Michael Moore is NOT the new Leni Riefenstahl. He's not the Soviet master of propaganda Siergï Eisenstein either. When you look at the real propaganda masters you realize that every one of them made positive movies about their subjects. The "Berlin Olympics 1936" (Winner of the first Cannes Film Festival, beating out Snow White) idealized the male Aryan body, Triumph of the Will (winner of The Grand Prix at the Paris World's Fair in 1937) glamorized the Nazi Party Rally in Nurenburg and made Nazism appealing to a world audience; Sergeï Eisenstein's "Potomkin" glamorized a rebellion aboard a battleship that projected the desireability and glamor of revolution. Incidentially he created a scene that is copied to this day by directors. Goebbels turned out happy movie after happy movie for the Nazis; and made one misstep when he did a movie comparing Jews to rats that nobody liked. "Liked" was always the key for the great liars of film.

And most importantly these propagandists changed minds. The really awful truth about Leni Riefenstahl is that "Triumph of the Will" sold Nazism around the world; Eisenstein prepared the mind for revolution in "Potomkin" and "October", while in "Ivan the Terrible" he sold Stalin. His most effective piece of propaganda was "October", a fictionalized glorification of the October Revolution. These two, among others, were Evil Geniuses. Moore is a not very convincing stunt double for the real thing. (A balanced or revisionist? view of Riefenstahl can be found here)

Moore creates dislike. He is a negative phony documentary film maker. He lies, and his lies can be checked. He is making religious documentaries complete with the devil (GM, guns, George Bush etc.). His followers don't care about the truth, or the facts. I'd call what he does a spin from editorial cartoons. Crockumenty Film is the best you can say. But do not compare him to Nazi or Communist propagandists. They were really good.

Moore's 9/11 did almost 10Gs per theatre opening day which classifies itself as a good grossing movie, so far. A 5% drop off on Saturday. Movie won't be a major hit, look for $35 million domestic. It will be a huge hit in America hating Europe.