By jon bosworth
The opening scenes of this documentary juxtapose the horror of March 19, 2003 in Baghdad with the Academy Awards Celebration in Hollywood, California four days later. At first glance it may strike you that this film is a trite and obvious parallel between America's decadence and the devastation our military commands over other parts of the world, but then the documentary quickly comes a different point. Canadian directors Rick Caine and Debbie Melnyk show Michael Moore's acceptance speech as he lambasted President Bush and criticized the war in Iraq while receiving his Oscar for his documentary Bowling for Columbine.
In the beginning of this film Melnyk, who is not only one of the directors, but she also narrates the entire film, is inspired by Moore's candor and courage and decides to make it her mission to tell this rogue filmmakers story through a documentary of her own. But what starts as a quest to celebrate this man digresses rapidly as she begins to interview the people that surrounded him throughout his coming-up.
In Manufacturing Dissent we see a darker side of Moore, not like the partisan films that simply took their politics and a grudge and smeared his name on (direct to video) film, but from a filmmaker that admired the man's work and set out to make a film that vindicated his career within his own medium. As Melnyk takes us to Moore's hometown of Davison, Michigan, we are with her on a mission to salvage Moore's tarnished name. Now that most of America is wary of our place in Iraq, perhaps we can go back to that moment years ago and forgive Moore for the tactics he used to deliver his brand of honesty. As Melnyk meets the people that knew him best when he was starting up, she finds that they don't have such heralding stories.
She talks to the people that worked for him at the small alternative, leftist paper he started after college in Flint, Michigan. She then follows his history to San Francisco where he was the editor of Mother Jones magazine, but is again surprised to learn that he wasn't everything he made himself out to be. Some of the most damning blows come from his time working with Ralph Nader, where his skills were being employed to make a documentary about General Motors CEO Roger Smith and the city of Flint. Instead of making a film about Nader's movement and work, Moore made a film about himself and the fabricated results of a quest to speak with Roger Smith. It seems the more Melnyk learns about Moore, the less inspired she is by his story and the more her documentary becomes a sort of expose`.
Adding insult to injury, this history lesson is paralleled by her camera crew struggling to get him to do a one-on-one interview about his films and career by following him around as he promoted his documentary about Iraq and the terror attacks on New York, Farenheit 9/11.
The tagline of this film, according to imdb.com, is "It's never been so hard to get Michael Moore in front of a camera." And indeed, Melnyk, a documentarian, which you would expect Moore would have some appreciation for, is treated far worse that Moore was in any of his outsider documentaries.
This film doesn't leave out the stories of those that loved him while working with him and appreciated him publicly, even though they were aware of his tactics, so it presents a "fair and balanced" perspective of the man. I have always been a fan of Michael Moore's films and television shows, because I don't think of a documentarian as having the responsibility of a journalist. A filmmaker's objective is to manipulate the viewer to attain a particular perspective. Moore's films may do that through fictionalizing the facts, but the result is exactly what the filmmaker sets out to do.
In a surprisingly deft use of Moore's own medium, Melnyk and Caine manage to paint a real picture of Moore through commentary by everyone from his closest friends to Ralph Nader and Noam Chomsky, and they manipulate us to a conclusion. Although Moore's films have certainly made a particular impact on cinema and culture, he isn't exactly the golden goose of the documentary. This film is absolutely worth watching. Now that all of the Michael Moore hatred has cooled, left and right-wingers can look at the man for what he really is and not for the polarity that he created during election seasons.
Catch Manufacturing Dissent at this year's film festival, happening between May 12 and May 17. Look for updates on their website, jacksonvillefilmfestival.com, or look here for more information as it is made available.
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EU Critic’s Choice Awards
