MOORE TO THINK ABOUT

Walking into the theater, I thought I was prepared. I had just seen Mark Hamill walking his dogs. They were small, fluffy and white, as if clouds had transmogrified into canines. Democrats had a table set up outside, and kept asking us "Do you want to help defeat President Bush?" as they hit us up for funds.

But walking out after seeing Fahrenheit 9/11, a masterful if incredibly disturbing film, I realized that there is no such thing as prepared. Just as I was not prepared for Gore to win the presidency and yet not be inaugurated. Just as no one was prepared for 9/11. Just as hearing statistics of war losses is never the same as seeing the pain on a mother's face when she learns her son or daughter's been killed in a land far from home.

After the movie, which was replete with incredibly appropriate musical selections and film documentation of our President's bizarre facial tics and dulcet intonations, I felt my heart racing. I stood on line for the ladies' room, and felt an exacerbated sense of frustration, not at the line, which was considerable, but at the film and its ramifications. My blood pressure and my dander were up. We were riled, all of us. And we felt helpless.

The film reminded us all that democracy is necessarily limited; our government cannot reveal to us all the information it has. By the same token, Michael Moore clearly made a film that represents his opinion, his version of the truth. So, whose truth is truthiest? There's no way to know.

It's a bit shy of conspiracy theory, which I partially embrace due to my foundational entertainment diet of Oliver Stone films and nine seasons of the X-Files, but I am at the point where I'm not sure how much of an impact individuals can make on the electoral process. Yes, I'll vote, but I'm not in love with Kerry either. I don't know what the answer is.

I'm trying to re-calibrate my mind, to bring myself back to the time before the movie, when my ignorance was my bliss, when I could watch Luke Skywalker become Luke Dogwalker. And I'm having trouble.

MOORE TO THINK ABOUT

Walking into the theater, I thought I was prepared. I had just seen Mark Hamill walking his dogs. They were small, fluffy and white, as if clouds had transmogrified into canines. Democrats had a table set up outside, and kept asking us "Do you want to help defeat President Bush?" as they hit us up for funds.

But walking out after seeing Fahrenheit 9/11, a masterful if incredibly disturbing film, I realized that there is no such thing as prepared. Just as I was not prepared for Gore to win the presidency and yet not be inaugurated. Just as no one was prepared for 9/11. Just as hearing statistics of war losses is never the same as seeing the pain on a mother's face when she learns her son or daughter's been killed in a land far from home.

After the movie, which was replete with incredibly appropriate musical selections and film documentation of our President's bizarre facial tics and dulcet intonations, I felt my heart racing. I stood on line for the ladies' room, and felt an exacerbated sense of frustration, not at the line, which was considerable, but at the film and its ramifications. My blood pressure and my dander were up. We were riled, all of us. And we felt helpless.

The film reminded us all that democracy is necessarily limited; our government cannot reveal to us all the information it has. By the same token, Michael Moore clearly made a film that represents his opinion, his version of the truth. So, whose truth is truthiest? There's no way to know.

It's a bit shy of conspiracy theory, which I partially embrace due to my foundational entertainment diet of Oliver Stone films and nine seasons of the X-Files, but I am at the point where I'm not sure how much of an impact individuals can make on the electoral process. Yes, I'll vote, but I'm not in love with Kerry either. I don't know what the answer is.

I'm trying to re-calibrate my mind, to bring myself back to the time before the movie, when my ignorance was my bliss, when I could watch Luke Skywalker become Luke Dogwalker. And I'm having trouble.