The R rating left the film's distributors disappointed that the movie's message wouldn't reach younger audiences.

"The images in the film are no more disturbing than what we have been seeing and, frankly, should be seeing on network news since the Vietnam war," Tom Ortenberg, president of Lions Gate Films, told Reuters.

"It is perfectly appropriate for 15- and 16-year-olds who are going to be asked to fight in this war or the next war to see what war is really like," he added.

Distributors had hired former New York governor Mario Cuomo to argue their case for the ratings change, but he was disqualified under MPAA rules. Ortenberg made the case instead.

The central premise of Moore's film is that President Bush approved requests from top Saudi officials to allow several members of Osama bin Laden's family to fly out of the U.S. in the days after the 9/11 attacks.

However, after "Fahrenheit" was already in the can, former White House terrorism czar Richard Clarke admitted that he and he alone green-lighted the bin Laden flyouts.

Despite the film's inaccuracies and R rating, Mr. Ortenberg encouraged teenagers to see it.

"I've spoken with many parents ... who absolutely said they are going to take their children to see the film. We'll just have to hope the teenagers we're encouraging to see this picture find their way in through parents or adult guardians."

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