W  Why is Oliver Stone releasing W now? He appears to be emulating Michael Moore and his 2004 film Fahrenheit 9/11, despite his protestations:

Stone has publicly promised W will be a "fair, true portrait of the man," but already there are those accusing him of the politics of personal destruction — and, worse, of trying to influence the election by painting the current Republican administration as reckless doofuses.

Moore did such a good job influencing the 2004 presidential election:

Moore was unequivocal about his desire to do everything in his power to help oust President George Bush in this November's elections.

"We thought, 'We cannot leave this to the Democrats this time to fuck it up and lose.'" He wants, he said, to "inspire people to get up and vote in November."

Stone is even mentioned in this review of the book entitled Michael Moore's Fahrenheit 9/11,

Moore's provocative polemic, released early in the election year of 2004, criticized the Bush administration in a number of ways. It broke all records for documentary attendance and revenues, but also drew a blast of hostile attacks, not only, predictably, from right-wing partisans but also from more mainstream critics, who found it distorted or downright untruthful. Acknowledging Moore's deliberate attempt to influence the election against the Republican incumbency, Toplin argues that the negative fallout (not the film itself) led to a voter backlash with the opposite effect. Toplin (who has also written about Oliver Stone, another gadfly) reviews Moore's history

I have this sick feeling in the pit of my stomach. Maybe these well-intended film makers should just leave it up to the voters to decide. Let's hope the film is treated the way Ralph Nader is being treated this time.
posted by Bruce Wright at 9:41 AM #