Manufacturing Dissent: Uncovering Michael Moore
I watched this DVD out of sheer curiosity. I wanted to see what kind of teeth a documentary against Mike Moore has.
And to my surprise they had a couple bites. But nothing to radically alter my opinion of the man and his work.
This was made by two Canadians in 2007, Rick Caine & Debbie Melnyk, who want to uncover Mike Moore's M.O., as they are fans of his.
They have trouble getting Moore to sit down to an interview. He rebuffs them often, as he's on the Slacker Uprising tour to get youth to vote in the 2004 election, and he's VERY busy. I got the impression that he sensed a witchhunt from Debbie, so he got the word out to his security and others on his side to block them. His behaviour when confronted by Debbie at different times showed me that he was keenly aware of this "documentary" they were making and didn't want to give them any ammo whatsoever. But she's persistent, I gotta give her that....
They make the accusation that Moore is associated with buying Halliburton stock (among other stock) and that shocked me. The proof seemed flimsy, but they put it out there. Moore denies it.
Moore is also quoted (from a friend of his) that he said "I want to get rich. I'm an American", relating to his career in muckraking.
The only thing they seemed to point out that has any real teeth is that Moore is an egomaniac. I can buy that.
But he's an egomaniac that I can stomach. If you are an egomaniac and you make TV shows, films and write books about how fucked up things are in your neighborhood or country I CAN DIG IT. Especially coming from a man who really CARES and demonstrates it time and time again.
Yes, he manipulates.
He's quoted (again by a friend of his) that the details about meeting Roger Smith not once but TWICE during the shooting of Roger and Me were left on the cutting room floor. At first that made me mad. Then I thought about it- this is a REAL filmmaker who is considering the whole impact of his work. He wants the impression on the viewer to be very precise, and I FUCKING LOVE THAT.
I love it because he's willing to be called out on it- he's seeing if anyone is really paying attention. And then it doesn't really matter- it's almost a fail-safe in a way- because the message has been sent and the Legend grows...
It's pointed out that there is no one to counter the Right with their huge, lopsided and grossly arrogant domination of public debate, which is why Moore became so successful.
Damn right.
As far as i'm concerned, until there is someone with Superman's level of integrity to balance the right and left wing shit-slinging, I'll take the Michael Moore brand until I die.
Last edited by Johann; 01-15-2011 at 02:35 PM.
"Set the controls for the heart of the Sun" - Pink Floyd
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