It looks like I’ll get an early view of Michael Moore’s new film Sicko. The man is no stranger to controversy. I first heard of the rotund champion of the Left during his stint with TV Nation. I liked his style. Later, he gave a speech during my undergraduate days at Florida State University. It was 2000 and the main thrust of his speech was that if we didn’t keep Bush out of the White House, it would usher in the dark days of the apocalypse. No comment. I like watching his documentaries even if I don’t always agree 100% with the politics he’s pushing. He makes some interesting points, but I do sometimes get annoyed with his constant antics as showy provocateur. It comes off a grating and over the top, and sometimes it feels a trifle staged and over-edited. (and perhaps with good reason)
I saw his most confrontational film, Fahrenheit 9/11 while I was in South Africa, where his grudge match with the Bush administration seemed to play well with the crowd who were not fans of our Commander in Chief. I liked him better when he was in his more grassroots mode, ala Roger & Me, or the more philosophical as in Bowling for Columbine.
I’m interested to see what he has to say with Sicko, as I think the health care industry makes a good target for him to snipe at. Is there anybody out there who actually likes the state of health care in America? I think people everywhere and on both sides of the aisle have serious issues with the way the system stands. Michael Moore is a muckraker, pure and simple. Sometimes that gets on my nerves. Sometimes, it works. We’ll see how this plays out.
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Funny, I was at Moore’s 2000 speech at FSU and came away thinking he was ambivalent about the difference between either Gore or Bush winning. I remember someone in the audience, a guy with a shaved head, asked him whether or not he shld vote for Nader. Moore sort of hemmed and hawed and ran his fingers through his hair like he does and said, “Well, I don’t know I guess at this point a vote for Nader is a vote for Bush, I guess,” or something like that. Previous to that night I’d read several essays of his encouraging everyone to not vote - to boycott an election that was merely a distinction without a difference. That was a good night though. I waited in line for hours to get in.
Hmm. Maybe I am looking back at the speech through the lens of what came after and the commentaries Moore has since made, but the way I remember it he encouraged everyone to do what they could to keep the present administration from ascending to power. I do recall his comment re: a vote for Nader is also a vote for Bush, but in my recollection it was a pretty strong admonishment.
The line was ridiculous, but not as bad as Maya Angelou.
I read 150 pp of T.S. Eliot’s The Varieties of Metaphysical Poetry while waiting to get in to the Angelou event. Even at the time I thought to myself, “Nuts.”
I remember one time at FSU, I got really drunk and ran into a mailbox.
Have you seen the documentary about Moore from (I believe) 2 Canadians? It ’s supposedly very good. I haven’t been able to see it in Texas. Blockbuster doesn’t have a wide variety of documentaries.
I think the film you’re referring to is Manufacturing Dissent. I have seen it and it is pretty good. It’s basically a Michael Moore-style documentary about Michael Moore. I think its a good counterpoint to the ways in which documentaries can be edited to convey almost any point of view. I would netflix that bad boy.