TERRY LAWSON: Like many documentary makers, Michael Moore crafts films that stir controversy
TERRY LAWSON: Like many documentary makers, Michael Moore crafts films that stir controversy: "Whether 'Fahrenheit 9/11,' which analysts predict could earn $50 million or more at the box office, turns up the electorate's heat or just becomes more fuel for the ever-hungry ovens of talk radio and news TV will soon be determined and re-determined.
If nothing else, it seems likely to open up more than a few hearts and minds -- to ponder again just how much fact can be found in reality and how much reality there is in nonfiction. You might learn something you didn't know about Bush and his war on terrorism. You might have your beliefs challenged. But you will be asked to sort all that out.
By TERRY LAWSON
And that, at least, is the truth."
posted by JOlmsted @ 6/19/2004 11:25:00 PM
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'I'm thinking, 'Why am I in a lab at this hour?' I just won the Palme d'Or at Cannes. I should be somewhere far away celebrating,' he says with a raspy voice.
But mostly it has been the usual suspects taking the usual sides. For the right, 'Fahrenheit 9/11' is a scurrilous attack on the commander in chief in a time of war. For the left, on the other hand, 'Fahrenheit 9/11' is a scurrilous attack on the commander in chief in a time of war - and it was about time, though no prudent mainstream Democrat would want to come out and say so. For everybody else... well, is there anybody else?"
Another question that comes to mind is, what the hell is Move America Forward? I know, I hadn't heard of them, either, until recently. As I looked over their web site, the first thought that popped into my mind was: right-wing fascist nut cases. But that's not fair. I'm not a psychologist or psychiatrist, so I'm not qualified to make judgments on the mental health of Move America Forward's board of directors and staff.
'I can't believe that you guys would think about going in that direction, when we're trying to get out of that direction,' Moore told the Star, shortly before heading to the Varsity Cinemas to make a red-carpet arrival at the screening.
'My basic attitude is that the more they would call me and harass me, the more I would want to play this picture,' he said. 'The very concept of a group like this trying to stifle information and political dialogue is absolutely contrary to what America is supposed to be all about. It's appalling.'
Michael Moore: 'Have they seen it? Have they seen the film? No. Of course they haven't. I will tell you they haven't seen it. These are un-credible reviews from people who haven't even seen the movie.'"
Lining up behind the film are such Democratic luminaries as ex-New York Gov. Mario Cuomo and former Clinton White House aides Chris Lehane and Mark Fabiani, plus a host of showbiz celebrities and the liberal activists of the anti-Bush group MoveOn.
At a screening in New York this week the well-heeled but partisan crowd - one member of the audience described them as 'limousine liberals' - hissed whenever cabinet members such as Donald Rumsfeld and Condoleezza Rice appeared on screen, and applauded every suggestion that Mr Bush might not win re-election to the presidency in November.
As of this morning, a little over 500 theaters have agreed to show the movie beginning next Friday, June 25. There are three national/regional theater chains who, as of today, have not booked the movie in their theaters. One theater owner in Illinois has reported receiving death threats.
That's where you're wrong. Most documentaries, especially the best ones, have an opinion and argue for it. Even those that pretend to be objective reflect the filmmaker's point of view. Moviegoers should observe the bias, take it into account and decide if the film supports it or not.
I agree with Moore that the presidency of George W. Bush has been a disaster for America. In writing that, I expect to get the usual complaints that movie critics should keep their political opinions to themselves. But opinions are my stock in trade, and is it not more honest to declare my politics than to conceal them? I agree with Moore, and because I do, I hope "Fahrenheit 9/11" proves to be as accurate as it seems.
Did I mention that Fahrenheit 9/11 is ferociously, cathartically funny? Moore isn't above a cheap laugh at the expense of a pro-war Britney Spears, John Ashcroft warbling a patriotic ditty or Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz vainly prepping for a TV interview.
In what seemed to be a genuine, unscripted moment, the singer told the audience - which included the filmmaker himself - that she had just seen the film and that it had really affected her. Moore had screened the film to a crowd of celebrities and members of the press on Monday at New York's Ziegfeld Theater.
For years right-wing organizations have kept their constituents mobilized by trumpeting the liberal threat to traditional family values and their lack of patriotism. These campaigns -- whether against same-sex marriage, a silly miniseries about the Reagans, or now, against Michael Moore's pointed critique of President Bush's war against terrorism and War on Iraq -- are aimed at keeping its constituents on a permanent war footing. Move America Forward will not succeed in taking down Fahrenheit 9/11. It will, however, keep Team Bush's right wing base vigilant, agitated and mobilized. "
Now we have the Moore/Disney psychodrama. We have gone from the marketing Calvary of Christ to Michael Moore's Messiah complex.
'Moore's film is incredibly patriotic,' stated Eli Pariser, Executive Director of MoveOn PAC. 'Organized Republican attempts to pressure theaters not to show the film are intimidation and censorship, pure and simple. We need more dialogue, not suppression ... what are they afraid of?'
Given the huge hype surrounding the controversial film, due out in theaters next Friday, some industry observers are left to wonder if this isn't just movie marketing at its best (and cheapest).
Fahrenheit 9/11 has its own Web site, F911tix.com, to bolster group ticket sales. And distributors hope to drum up additional word-of-mouth by holding 10 to 12 pre-release screenings beyond Los Angeles and New York. Friday, Moore will be on CBS' The Late Show with David Letterman and NBC's Dateline. Monday, he'll be on Today.
And they all have the same message, we don't like Bush. Joining us now from Los Angeles is Pete Hammond, freelance journalist based in Hollywood and Jeanne Wolfe, a celebrity journalist who knows everybody and always gives me a hard time. Now I told you, Jeanne, months ago when you appeared that this was going to be a movement and a powerful one because Hollywood is very powerful, particularly to drive-by voters. Voters who really aren't ideological, they don't really know the issues but they pick up little dribs and drabs from 'Entertainment Tonight' and 'Access Hollywood,' and all of this. And now we have all these people running out to the streets so I'm right, right?"
"OK, a Michael Moore movie will never be confused with PBS. But Fahrenheit 9/11 does boast segments that hint at the kind of film Moore could make if he ever put down his sledgehammer. Returning to his hometown of Flint, Mich., made famous in his debut documentary Roger and Me, Moore vividly captures the appeal of military service for the sons and daughters of blue-collar families who have no other routes for upward mobility. Then, in a memorable scene near the Capitol in Washington, Moore pointedly tries to persuade members of Congress to sign up their own children for service in Iraq.
NEW YORK, June 14 /PRNewswire/ -- 
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