By William Gallagher BBC News Online

Moore's documentary criticised President Bush's war on terror

In cinemas, Fahrenheit 9/11 broke records and arguably became more of a force in US politics than any previous documentary film.

Now, it comes to a wider audience on DVD, during the last weeks before the 2004 US Presidential election.

While the release date comes as no surprise, what is unexpected is just how irritating the film can be.

Fahrenheit 9/11 undoubtedly makes good points and highlights interesting facts, but film-maker Michael Moore is the one reason why it may never have quite the impact it perhaps should have.

Moore delivers a sing-song narration full of simplistic language such as "I guess you know where this is heading...", "I don't know about you, but..." and "Who's your daddy?"

However what he does effectively, not to say quite brilliantly at times, is to raise very big questions and it would be na�ve to expect him to also answer them.

Yet he's so focused on punching his point home that he fails to see anyone could possibly disagree with him.

The DVD is an opportunity to supplement Michael Moore's points and perhaps bring in more debate.

So an 11-minute extra, The Release of Fahrenheit 9/11, does feature a White House spokesman saying the documentary has factual errors but admitting he hasn't seen the film.

Back-slapping

With Michael Moore narrating almost every moment of the film, an audio commentary was never going to be very likely.

It has been done before, though, so as confusing as a director talking over his own narration can be, it's a shame Moore didn't try it here: it would be interesting to hear him explain why he chose the footage or the effects or the interviewees that he did.

Instead, the overall effect of the extras is that they are back-slapping: some directly praise Moore and others show more people agreeing with him.

This makes the first extra, The Release of Fahrenheit 9/11 a bit over the top but then we get eyewitness accounts of Iraq before the invasion, of Abu Gharib prison and so on which are interesting.

Other featurettes include fuller coverage of Dr Condoleezza Rice's testimony at the 9/11 Commission and a short press conference with George Bush.

None are so arresting that you'll watch them twice, though, and where it seems Moore wanted to make the DVD a complete record, it somehow comes across as bitty padding.

Fahrenheit 9/11 is released on DVD in America on 5 October; the UK release is 18 October.

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What do you think of the DVD and the extras on it - do they enhance the film? Is it better than just seeing the film at the cinema?

Send us your views on the form below.

Moore's film does was journalists in the U.S. should have been doing. It's disappointing that in order to get a complete picture of the events surrounding 9/11 we must go to an overweight, slacker hero. The extras in the DVD were clearly well thought-out but the contents put together quickly. One unfortunate deletion is a commentary track from Michael Moore that would have rounded out this DVD nicely. A welcome inclusion to the material added, however, is the Arab Comedians bit - which is a sociological study of modern USA in itself.
Robert, Burnaby, BC, Canada

The DVD extras just make this unimpressive film even more of a dog. Michael Moore is near the end of the road with this effort. If you are looking for a DVD to purchase, I highly recommend something else. Moore's 2nd rate voice narrative is as painful as a trip to the dentist's office.
Rainyhouse, Spanish Fork, Utah

I thought some of the extras were very interesting. The scenes shot outside the Abu Ghraib prison as the US is about to free 100 prisoners was great. There is also a hilarious look at Arab-Americans stand-up comedians that's well worth watching. My only regret is that Moore didn't include the full 7 minutes of Dubya reading "My Pet Goat" to the kids on September 11th. I have seen the full version online and it's really disturbing to watch, as after a few minutes of his now infamous million-mile gaze he starts laughing and joking with the kids as if nothing happens. And to watch the full 7 minutes is a very long and disturbing experience.
Yann, London, UK

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