EW's movie critic talks politics
When giving a positive or negative review to a political movie like ''Fahrenheit 9/11,'' is it difficult to put your own politics aside?
-- Denise Wicker
The official answer is, I can watch anything with a neutral mind.
The human answer is, Of course it's a challenge: We all react
instinctively to movies, all movies, through the filter of our own
values, and issue-oriented films are meant to goose. Besides, a he
or she who is not provoked -- one way or another -- by the politics of
''Fahrenheit 9/11'' is a he or she without a pulse. The key word,
though, is ''difficult.'' As a private citizen, I'm perfectly
comfortable pumping my fist at the screen and yelping ''Right on!''
or rolling my eyes and yowling ''Bite me!'' But as a critic, I find
it perfectly (or at least imperfectly) easy to acknowledge my own
political point of view and then step back to analyze what message
a movie is trying to convey, how it goes about fulfilling its aims,
and what I think of the art that results.
