There's More to Moore's Film Than Bush Bashing

By Jeffrey Ressner

It's a fun time to be a conspiracy theorist. Almost anything you allege can seem very much like the truth. Take Michael Moore's new docucomedy, Fahrenheit 9/11, which--like his best-selling books and Oscar-winning movie, Bowling for Columbine--details what he considers the corrupt ethics of conservative politicians and Big Business. Just before its premiere at the Cannes Film Festival, word emerged that Walt Disney Co. CEO Michael Eisner had forbidden Miramax Films, a Disney division, to distribute the film. Eisner told reporters last week that he had rejected the movie because he did not want Disney to get dragged into partisan battles in an election year. But the Miramax camp scoffs at that claim, pointing out that Disney's radio arm has no compunction about distributing fire-breathing conservative Sean Hannity's show. The film has been described as an incendiary attack on the Bush family's ties to Saudi Arabian oil money and the Osama bin Laden clan. But a source who has seen the picture tells TIME that the Bush-Saudi elements make up only about 15 minutes of the roughly 110-minute film.

Harvey and Bob Weinstein, the Miramax bosses who earlier chafed at Eisner's overruling of their plans to release Kevin Smith's religion spoof Dogma, are said to be outraged that he dismissed the Moore film without having seen it. The Weinsteins are looking for a new distribution plan, but according to a Miramax source, they may also evoke a little-used clause in their contract to arbitrate the matter with Disney. Publicly, Moore is steamed. But as he doubtless knows, the clouds of this stormy controversy have a silver lining: free publicity. --By Jeffrey Ressner