Celsius 41.11 to Save Bush From Fahrenheit 9/11

Titled “Celsius 41.11 – The Temperature at Which the Brain Begins to Die”, the Citizens United, a conservative group in Washington, producer and financer of the documentary, billed the new documentary as a rejoinder to Moore’s Bush-bashing “Fahrenheit 9/11”.

“We could have gone wall to wall with red meat on this, but we purposely didn’t,” said Lionel Chetwynd, a writer and producer of the film, according to South California.com.

“The cheap shots may be entertaining in Moore’s film, but we wanted to make the intellectual case and go beyond lecturing to the converted,” he added.

The new production comes as the presidential race between Bush and Kerry is tight with the Democrat being two points ahead, making Kerry trailing 46% to 44%, according to British daily The Guardian.

Defensive All Along

The new conservative documentary “Celsius 41.11”, that hit the silver screens Tuesday, October 19, offers a point-by-point defense of Bush’s policies by politicians, journalists and scholars discussing topics ranging from the legality of the Florida recount in 2000, the Clinton administration’s record on fighting terrorism and the theory of American exceptionalism.

The documentary includes clips showing the gravity of terrorism on US security with graphic images of executions carried out by the Taliban regime in a football pitch in Afghanistan and ousted Iraqi President Saddam Hussein’s torture of prisoners.

Hard-line columnist in the Washington Post Charles Krauthammer, and other hard line US conservatives as Fred Barnes, Michael Medved and Bill Sammon could be seen in the documentary.

It also uses the destruction of the USS Cole destroyer in Yemen and Khobar bombings in Saudi Arabia, painting a horror image, with the strong voice of Bush echoing in the background “We won’t wait till danger comes closer.”

The documentary further mocks at anti-war demonstrators as well as the democratic candidate, showing him unable to provide protection to US citizens the way Bush does.

The documentary also hails the first presidential term of Bush, citing his “record” in fighting terrorism.

The film is directed by Lionel Chetwynd and Ted Steinberg, who are also the producers of the documentary.

Conservative Answer

“Celsius 41.11” is clearly the reply of the conservatives to US director Michael Moore’s mega-hit documentary “Fahrenheit 11”.

The documentary, which won the Cannes film festival’s top prize in May, explores links between the Bush family and powerful Saudi Arabians, including relatives of Osama bin Laden.

It also contends that Bush thrust America into war with Iraq by propagating misinformation and exploiting public fear in the aftermath of the 9/11 attacks.

Political fallout from the film has been magnified by the backers’ stated intention to shape the US presidential election in November, which is being cast in many quarters as a referendum on Bush’s so-called war on terror and the US-led invasion of Iraq.

Moore used his Oscar winning speech on March 23, 2003 , to launch a diatribe on Bush, saying that "fictitious election" results in “fictitious presidents”.