OK, it's been out in the UK for a couple of weeks now. Generally we avoid films for the first week or two, so that we get some elbow room. I knew (or thought I knew) the film's agenda.

First surprise - the cinema was totally packed. We got seats on the next-to-front row, about 15 feet from the screen (and this is a good size cinema). Damn, crick-in-the-neck time. Then the film started.

About the best summary would be "Jeeeeezzzzuuus..." The amazing thing for the first half was realising just how thoroughly such a great country had been shafted, and in particular the duplicity of the Bush family. Then Moore moved onto the war section. Except for the colour of the uniforms and the scenery, half those clips could have been straight out of Vietnam footage. Most of the audience, myself included, walked out looking like we'd just been hit over the head with a brick.

And get this. This is a British cinema. I've been in cinemas in the US, and I know US audiences get much more excited over films than Brits do. This is the first time I've heard spontaneous applause at the end of the film in a British cinema!

Criticism? Some of his stunts were amusing but unnecessary. And the prewar portrait of Iraq was, shall we say, a little glossy - smiling children, "a sovereign nation that had never attacked the USA" (don't mention Kuwait, or pre-war Abu Ghraib, or the Kurds and Marsh Arabs).

So what's special about this? Answer: the timing. "Fahrenheit 9/11" went out of its way to emphasize how the Bush administration kept its power by manipulating public fear of terror attacks, by understating the threat one day and then overstating it the next. The very next day, Tony Blair's administration announced a leaflet-and-advertising campaign about what to do in the event of a terrorist attack (remember that the IRA have been bombing mainland UK for 30 years!). How do you keep people afraid? By telling them they're safe, that the terrorists are under control - but just in case, here's how to hide from a chemical weapon attack.

The UK general elections are coming next year. They can't come soon enough for me. The US electorate can expect their relief to come a little earlier.

Graham.

(PS. Statement of personal bias: I'm pro-invasion but anti-war. Removing Saddam Hussein from power was absolutely right, but the method by which the US and UK voters were gulled into supporting it and the continued occupation are unacceptable to me.)