Sin #69: Moore Than Meets the Eye

My first encounter with the work of Michael Moore came right after he had won the Oscar for best documentary back in 2002. I became curious for the movie after the controversy with his speech (where he spoke plainly against President Bush, to equal measure of booing and cheering from the attending audience). I purchased “Bowling for Columbine” in DVD and loved it. Moore’s detractors said it was nothing but a piece of propaganda that fudged facts and manipulated the audience with weak arguments (some even said Moore was a traitor for making it) but there was no denial that Moore’s film had sparked debate among audiences about the purchase of guns in America (shedding light on the NRA and the gun-obsessed culture) and the policies of the US government on foreign soil.

After “Columbine” I decided to check out the rest of his work. I saw his first feature titled “Roger and Me”, a moving and observant portrait of Moore’s hometown in Flint, Michigan and the consequences of GM’s factory closure (it even had an impact on his own family since his father was a worker there). Then I stumbled upon “The Awful Truth”, a hilarious and insightful series of sketches where Moore and his team go on a quest to show society’s flaws (I still smile thinking of Crackers, the crime fighting chicken and Pistol Pete).

His most successful documentary came in 2004 with “Fahrenheit 9/11”, an adaptation of his book Stupid White Men and an attempt to stop George Bush from winning the re-election (an objective he sadly failed to realize even with the film making more than 100 million dollars at the box office, a record for any documentary). “Fahrenheit 9/11” won the prestigious Palm D’Or at Cannes and remains a fascinating account of a post-9/11 America.

Still, my favorite documentary is “Sicko”, which tackles the difficult issue of health care (certainly one of the biggest concerns in Barack Obama’s candidacy). In “Sicko” Moore travels to Canada, France, Britain and even Cuba to prove how distinctively flawed the US system really is (especially the corruption inside insurance companies). “Sicko” is not about big political statements but more about the people’s rights to receive proper care, in a way it’s the most humanistic film he has ever made.

His most recent movie might be his most ambitious, “Capitalism: A Love Story” tries to pinpoint exactly what went wrong with a system that rewards the rich (who own 80% of the world’s resources) and has failed to benefit the rest of a population that is quickly slipping into an economic recession. “Capitalism” shows us an angrier Moore, although he also seems defeated as tragedies continue to build. He gives us people losing their jobs and a government unwilling to help them (there is a powerful sequence where he shows a post-Katrina New Orleans that feels like a ghost town, even years after the catastrophe).

Michael Moore will always have a loyal following as well as equally devoted detractors. His biggest contribution is creating debate as well as making terrific entertainments. His movies are skillfully adept at creating moments of seriousness and pain and merging them with humor (contrary to a documentarian like Errol Morris, Moore is more interested in entertaining than educating).

Certainly all of his movies are wonderful modern works that capture a moment in our difficult political and social climate.