Capitalizing on Capitalism

An interview with director, Michael Moore

When I first heard I was getting face time with the infamous non-fiction filmmaker, Michael Moore, I wasn’t really sure what to expect. Whether you watch his movies or not, you likely have an opinion about him and his politics and opinions about him tend to be extreme. His detractors don’t give him a fair shake and even his supporters can tell you a thing or two they don’t like about him. Is he really the champion of the people he purports to be or is he riding their miserable coattails all the way to the bank? After having spoken with him though, I can tell you plainly that Moore doesn’t care about what anyone thinks of him. Moore only cares about one thing – America – and what people think of her.

The reason I know this is not because Moore couldn’t stop gushing about America but rather because he couldn’t stop apologizing for it when we spoke. “We Americans, let me tell you, and you can believe me if you want to, we are really good people,” he tells me after he discovers I’m Canadian. I assure him that I like Americans just fine, that some of my best friends are Americans. Perhaps I wasn’t convincing enough because he goes on. “We have a good heart; we come up with a lot of great ideas. Somehow lately though, we have gone into a dark place and ignorance is our wall we can’t climb out of.” I’m used to Moore wagging his finger at behaviour he deems bad on camera but hearing the disappointment in his country direct from his mouth was disconcerting.

In CAPITALISM: A LOVE STORY, Moore’s latest controversial feature, he directs his lens at a facet of the American foundation that has been crumbling at the base as of late – the economy. Following the economic crisis or collapse or catastrophe, depending on what media inspired catch phrase you are partial to, Moore decided to explore the system that was falling apart in an effort to see if it is truly worth saving. “I want people to get angry enough to become active citizens and try to get this country back into the hands of the people and not the corporations,” Moore says of what he hopes people take away from the film. His initial aspirations make way for doubt though soon enough. “I don’t know if that’s going to happen or if it is even possible,” he continues. “It may be too late.”

Moore has been at this for a long time. His first feature, Roger & Me, was released in 1988 and he has been churning out films about gun control, health care and abuse of governmental authority ever since. It may not be possible to quantify exactly how much impact that has had but it is fair to say that, as a non-fiction filmmaker, he has had a greater influence on the general public than any other before him. “I have the privilege of making non-fiction films and reaching an audience of people who don’t go to non-fiction films.” Despite his disappointment in some aspects of his influence, he is certainly proud of how wide his reach is. “Studio surveys have shown that seven times out of ten, a person coming out of my movie is seeing a documentary in a theatre for the very fist time.”

I don’t know what’s more disturbing about that statistic – that so few people see documentaries in the theatre or that Michael Moore actually reads studio surveys.

At the time of our interview, Moore has no other project on deck. As he sits in front of me, looking like he should be drinking a beer in the backyard instead of promoting an internationally distributed film, I wonder if his exploits are starting to discourage him more than he realizes. Even as he begins spitting out random trivia bits about how 11% of Americans polled in a recent survey couldn’t find America on the map, I’m not swayed. Even as he follows these stats by saying, “This is what I’m dealing with. Sadly, this is what the world is dealing with,” I refuse to give up on him. One just needs to turn to one of the last things Moore says in Capitalism to remember his resolve. “I refuse to live in a country like this and I’m not leaving.”

Capitalize on that, Mr. Moore.

For Black Sheep's original review of CAPITALISM: A LOVE STORY, just click the title.

CAPITALISM: A LOVE STORY

Written and Directed by Michael Moore


Michael Moore: I did find one guy on Wall Street who wasn’t a film critic.

“Documentary” filmmaker, Michael Moore, has a knack for making movies about timely subjects. One could argue that he makes the movies he does when he does because he wants to affect change, therefore making him a hero. One could also argue though that he picks a topic he knows will hit all the right buttons to get people talking and to get them into the theaters. He wears his “Man of the Masses” hat and puts average Americans up on the screen to prove his points and then gets his following to come see them, led gallantly by himself, of course. Using the people to make money off the people is essentially everything he denounces in CAPITALISM: A LOVE STORY but Moore can’t see past his ego to see that.


It’s easy to be a hater when it comes to Moore. I don’t want to be one but when each of his movies is seemingly more about him at times than anything else (did you know he wanted to be a priest when he was a kid?), it is almost impossible not to criticize or question his intentions. Like his previous works, CAPITALISM is pieced together like a university term paper. Moore knows the point he wants to make and he finds a bunch of examples to prove that point while conveniently discarding any facts that might make his argument actually well rounded. He throws in random archival footage taken out of context to make fun of the bad guys and keeps the yuks coming with his own smug narration. When the situation is as bad as these crippling economic times though, Moore’s sarcasm is hardly necessary and barely welcome.


CAPITALISM does tell some frightening tales. Moore’s examples are extremes but it is the extremes that are threatening the demise of capitalism after all. In Pennsylvania, for instance, a corporate owned juvenile detention center was opened to take the burden off the government and the taxpayer but eventually did far worse to the community. The company bought off judges and kids were incarcerated for minor offences with lengthy, lucrative stays. If that’s not bad enough for you, there are also companies out there taking life insurance policies out on their employees without their knowledge. When the employee dies, not to suggest that companies are killing their employees or anything, the already rich company collects and the surviving family struggles with funeral costs. Perhaps if Moore would allow more of these atrocities to speak for themselves, his voice would be better heard.


You know Moore’s ego is somewhat out of control when he claims that he warned us about this collapse over twenty years ago when he put out his first film, ROGER AND ME. How could we not have heeded his cautionary counsel? If we had, perhaps all of this economic calamity could have been avoided. Herein lies the trouble with CAPITALISM: A LOVE STORY; sarcasm begets more of the same, not change. And while it is amusing from a popular culture standpoint to see Moore being refused entry to the General Motors headquarters in Detroit yet again, it only really serves as confirmation that Moore matters more to Moore than anything he supposedly stands for.

BLACK SHEEP'S NEWS WRANGLE

MOORE GETS PEOPLE OFF THE COUCH ...
... and hopefully into the polling booths. Everyone's favorite documentarian, Michael Moore, has put together a new film called, SLACKER UPRISING, and has made it available to you the people ... for free! All you need to do is visit the film's website (link below) to download the film. You can also order a hard copy for 10 dollars. The film essentially follows Moore on his 60-college trek to help encourage young people to vote. The last time he tried to influence an impending election (with the releases of FARENHEIT 9/11 months before the vote), he didn't make enough of a dent but he's hoping that giving the goods away this time out will do the trick.
Source: Slacker Uprising

IRON MAN DISASTER AVERTED
Back before THE DARK KNIGHT broke every record this summer and changed the face of superhero films, a little movie called IRON MAN surpassed all expectations to become the 2nd biggest hit of the year while wowing audiences and critics alike, a rare feat as we all know. Paramount had set a DVD/Blu-Ray release date for September 30, expecting a huge response but then they ran right into a wall. The blu-ray discs were not functioning properly and at the last second a recall went into effect. There was even talk of, gasp, postponing! Do not fret though, Paramount has confirmed that retailers will be sufficiently stocked with functional copies and Iron Man will live on!
Source: Blu-Ray.com

I WAS LEGEND
Will Smith has signed on to reprise his role as Dr. Robert Neville in Warner Brothers' prequel to last year's zombie success story, I AM LEGEND. The bleak ending left no room for a sequel but the $584 million global box office take left no argument against a franchise. The new film, which is expected to be directed by Francis Lawrence, the helmer of the first flick, will focus on the days leading up to the first film, in which the plague devastated humanity. Sounds cheerful!
Source: ComicMix

DISNEY MANIA!
The house that Mickey built has announced a number of exciting developments for film fans. I could personally care less but Nicolas Cage will be back for a third installment in the NATIONAL TREASURE series. Oprah Winfrey will be voicing the mother of the princess in their first 2D animation in ages, THE PRINCESS AND THE FROG (coincidentally also featuring Disney's first black princess). Given that CARS keeps bringing in the merchandising moolah, Pixar will be unveling their sequel a year earlier than planned in 2011. The new release date coincides with the opening of the theme park ride. And apparently, Johnny Depp and Disney are an old married couple now. Depp has signed on for three upcoming Disney features. The first is perfect (or at least potentially perfect); he will play the Madhatter in Tim Burton's ALICE IN WONDERLAND. The second is odd; he will play the role of Tonto in a LONE RANGER adaptation. The third is downright disappointing; Depp will reprise his role as Captain Jack Sparrow in a fourth PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN adventure. Yeah, I'm sure there is a lot more he can do with that character.
Source: Variety

SICKO

Written and Directed by Michael Moore


Tony Benn: If you can find money to kill people, you can find money to help people.


Years ago, Michael Moore set out to produce a documentary about the American health care system and how that affects both those with and without insurance. In 1999 though, the Columbine shootings redirected his focus towards gun control and teenage violence. The health care project was put on hold and BOWLING FOR COLUMBINE was made and went on to win the Academy Award for Best Documentary. Hollywood had found a new spokesman and Moore rode that wave for as long as he could. He was about to return to the health care project when the war in Iraq began. Again, Moore felt his efforts would be better put to use elsewhere. FARENHEIT 9/11, part expository documentary, part slander campaign to ensure George W. Bush would not be re-elected, became the highest grossing documentary of all time. He may have had notoriety like he had never known but he also had an increasing number of angry detractors. Moore’s success was inflating his ego and that ego was taking up more screen time than the subject matter itself in his films. Well, Mr. Moore has heard your complaints and has redirected his focus once again by removing it from himself and placing it back on the subject. Eight years after its original conception, Moore is finally ready to give us SICKO.


While Moore’s mug does still find its way into the action and his voice guides us along our tour of the world’s hospital waiting rooms, he is less invasive and more sympathetic in SICKO. In fact, we don’t even see him for the first third of the piece. Instead, real people with real horror stories of disappointment and struggle put a face to the bureaucracy. Having no insurance, Rick must make a decision between reattaching his middle finger ($60,000) or his ring finger ($12,000) after the tips are sliced off in a buzz saw accident as he cannot afford both. In her 50’s, Donna is forced to move in to her daughter’s storage room with her husband because their medical bills have far exceeded what their insurance will cover. The American people already know that their health care system does not work for everyone so SICKO ensures that people know the desperate realities of those that are left behind. Moore makes sure to get all his pills in a line by giving historical context to the deterioration of provided health care and establishes profit as the unsurprising devil. There have been so many stories of death and unnecessary suffering by this point in the film that the tears come naturally when you see the livelihood of real people being cast aside for profit expansion.


Yet through the tears, there is laughter to be had in SICKO and most of it is directed at Moore himself, as an American representative. Moore leaves the USA to explore whether socialized health care is as poor and pathetic as the American media and American Medical Association would have you believe. In Canada, he meets a hockey player who sliced several fingers off while playing and didn’t have to choose between having any one in particular reattached nor did he have to pay a cent for the operation. In England, he meets with a doctor who still earns a strong six-figure salary that affords him an Audi and a million-dollar home despite the government signing his checks. In France, he meets with a group of Americans who have relocated to France and are now enjoying social health benefits like 24-hour medical service that comes to your door. Moore seems as if in a constant state of shock and awe as he asks patients leaving hospitals what their bills cost. The response is always nothing but not before they have a good laugh at how ridiculous his question is.


When the initial urge to laugh has run its route, SICKO reminds us that we are laughing at how dire this situation has become. How else can one describe it when homeless patients, clearly without insurance, are dumped in front of shelters after being forced out of a hospital and forced into a cab? Moore still can’t resist a cheeky, sarcastic turn but his filmmaking is maturing. While past efforts struggled to maintain their objectivity, feeling at times like one man’s personal vendetta against the powers that be, SICKO is more like a rallying of the people, exposing many Americans’ selfish motivations to look out for themselves above all else as their ugliest problem. Instead of yelling incessantly at the Bush administration and the corporations that pull the strings, all Moore seems to be concerned with is how the American population is still allowing for a world where the weakest among them is left to die in the streets.