‘Loose change - Final Cut’ film review

The Duke of Yorks screened a new and re-edited version of the internet phenomenon consipiracy theory film ‘Loose Change’ tonight, and had one of its executive producers Tim Sparke along to answer questions. This is a review of Loose Change Final Cut and comments on the debate that followed.

What’s ‘Loose Change - Final Cut’ about?

I don’t normally give away the plots to the films I review, but this one is a documentary, and there aren’t many twists. The first half hour which is all over the place, and, by the producers own admission ‘heavy going’, is not memorable, indeed, I can’t really recount it here. The second half of the film is more focused, and covers these key facts about September 11th:

Ground Zero

• People reported hearing and in some cases seeing explosions of some kind, caused by something, at the base of the twin towers
• A nearby building - World Trade 7, collapsed, 7 hours after the twin towers in the same fashion after suffering fires. Nearby buildings that also suffered fires and more severe structural damage did not.
• The BBC and CNN appeared to report World Trade 7 collapsing 10mins before it did.

Pentagon

• There is no video footage of a plane hitting the Pentagon
• Much of the plane wreckage inside the Pentagon was not revealed and appeared to disappear deep inside the building
• The plane hit part of the Pentagon that had just been reinforced against such an attack, any other area would have caused more damage
• The plane performed a manouvere in order to hit the reinforced section of the Pentagon which was complicated and took longer than it would have to hit any other section of the Pentagon, or simply hit the top
• The pilot of the plane that hit the Pentagon was highly skilled, a fighter jet pilot and was involved in counter terrorism
• The most experienced pilot out of the group of terrorists on that plane was apparently a poor pilot

United 93

• The remains were rather spread out

The investigation

• Cost $3 million in comparison to the $40 million spent on investigating Clinton
• Took 411 days to start in comparison to the 9 after Pearl Harbour
• Did not investigate reports of explosions at the base of the towers
• Did not mention World Trade 7 as no one had died

Those are, to my mind, the key points about the film.

Whats ‘Loose Change - Final Cut’ actually like?

This is not a big budget film, and it shows, especially at the beginning. The opening titles and first half hour of the film look like they were put together with nothing but a mac and basic Apple software. The directors credit at the start literally reads “Director,Writer and Producer Dylan Avery” without a space between the comma and the words Director and Writer. It just looks unfinished. The remainder of the film seemed more professionally put together, this might just be because it engaged me more and I didn’t notice the cracks.

The film presents facts which seem worth considering, but they could have easily been presented in a better way, and within a shorter film. There were too many facts that weren’t that relevant it seemed, and a lack of a good conclusion and clear explanation. However, this is far from the work of an experienced documentary maker (the writer and director is only 25), and I think in time, we might have another Michael Moore on our hands.

This isn’t a film that really tempts me to go down the road of “America blew themselves up to bring in law changes and invade Afghanistan and Iraq”. It left me with question, yes, but I don’t think there is any need to panic too much. It looks like the Bush administration and its ilk are on the way out now anyway, lets hope things move forward and this kind of issue will be something that can be resolved by studying the past in a detailed and detached manner.

The discussion

After the film, British executive producer Tim Sparke was along to answer questions.

One chap asked Tim to explain the difference between the three films, which was something I was wondering about, it turned out this one had a doctor (presumably not a medical one) check all the facts and put himself on the line to ensure everything was correct. One man worried that it wasn’t as good as Loose Change 2, but apparantly thats down to the fact that Loose Change 2 is full of opinions and unproven facts. Like a dissertation would be, this was more thoroughly checked to ensure a certificate and a mainstream release.

Tim explained his background as an former supporter of Blair and of America and explained that this film caused him to change his views and get on board. Others felt the same, including Charlie Sheen, who wanted to narrate the film, but were apparently warned off by unspecified individuals. The film was to get screened in the Houses of Parliament, until the person responsible for organising the screening was also warned off. “People don’t want you to see this film” seemed to be the main message Tim was trying to get across.

There was some talk as to who would screen this film, not the BBC clearly, probably not channel 4, channel 5 perhaps. The cinema release seems to be the next best thing. Picture House who own The Duke of Yorks are the first cinema chain in the world to screen the film, although it did get screened at independent cinemas in America. Although Tim claimed they were not in it for the money, I’m sure the DVD will sell very well, and when it goes on sale, take a look. Better still, watch Loose Change Final Cut for free.

Loose Change 2 - full film

This is the film Loose Change Final Cut was edited from, and expanded on. Its more reactionary and contains less clear facts.

This entry was posted on Sunday, February 3rd, 2008 at 11:59 pm and is filed under Arthouse cinema in Brighton. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.