And yes, this is a documentary! Every word and image is thoroughly fact-checked, then assembled like any movie (or newscast) to tell a specific story. Moore actually shows remarkable restraint, merely asking questions without jumping to spurious conclusions. He also stays out of the film until the end, when he door-steps congressmen with an unusual, telling question. Sure, he does go over the top a couple of times, especially when reinforcing the Bush-Saudi connection through clips of Bush and company with various unnamed Arabs. But even here he succeeds in raising an important issue.

The film works best in strongly personal interviews with people affected by events from the 11 September attacks to the Iraq invasion. Soldiers, their families and Iraqis themselves are all here, combined with irrefutable archive footage to paint a much larger and more disturbing picture. Moore's examination of the Patriot Act, Homeland Security and the realities of budget cuts are strong enough without everything else around them! But there is plenty more. Such as pre-9/11 footage of both US officials and life in Iraq that contradicts everything we've been told since.

This extremely well-assembled film has value on so many levels that it simply demands to be seen. It throws open the door to a wide spectrum of irregularities and covered-up truths. It unveils shocking evidence powerful people don't want us to see. And it offers a strong insight into the American mind, becoming Moore's patriotic lament for a world gone horribly off the rails. It's impossible to know how Bush supporters will react, if they actually dare to see it. They'll probably dismiss it as a pack of lies. But sadly, it so clearly isn't.