Moore’s movie opens in Poland

WARSAW, Poland – “Fahrenheit 9/11” opened Friday in Poland – a U.S. ally in Iraq – with some critics comparing director Michael Moore’s style to totalitarian propaganda.

But politicians who opposed Poland’s decision to send troops to Iraq urged the public to see the film. Moore’s movie portrays President Bush as inept and the war in Iraq as an illegitimate campaign waged to further business interests.

A critic for Gazeta Wyborcza, Poland’s largest daily newspaper, condemned the movie as a “foul pamphlet” too biased to be considered a documentary and said it reminded him of methods used by Nazi propaganda filmmaker Leni Riefenstahl.

“In criticizing Moore, I have to admit that he has certain abilities – Leni Riefenstahl had them, too,” reviewer Jacek Szczerba said.

The Rzeczpospolita newspaper wrote that, “Michael Moore will not convince Poles with his film.”

“People are very sensitive to aggressive propaganda, especially when it pretends to be an objective documentary or a work of art,” the paper wrote.

But Moore’s film was also changing minds.

“The film contained some propaganda, but there was also a lot of truth in it,” Elzbieta Karwinska, 58, said after viewing the film.

The left-leaning Trybuna newspaper lamented the fact that Poland’s political leaders have not been more critical of U.S. policy.

“Even criticism of the United States has to be imported from the United States,” the paper said.

Poland sent troops to help in the U.S.-led war to oust Saddam Hussein. It now leads a multinational division of nearly 6,200 soldiers in south-central Iraq, including 2,400 of its own.

Though surveys show most Poles oppose involvement in Iraq, there is no major protest movement.

“Fahrenheit 9/11” will also be shown in Romania, Hungary and other former communist countries this summer.

Zygmunt Wrzodak, an opposition lawmaker who has called the Iraq war a crime, said Moore’s film was hardly objective. “Still, all Poles should see it,” he said.

The film was shown to mixed reviews at the Karlovy Vary Film Festival this month in Czech Republic.

President Vaclav Klaus spoke out against Moore’s work, saying he is troubled by any film that urges viewers to totally adore or condemn a leader.

“Those of us who have lived through the film propaganda of the Communist era are a bit overly sensitive to the tricks of the director.”