No Country For Old Men  | |
| The Darjeeling Limited | |
| Sicko | |
| Spider-Man 3 | |
 | Manufacturing Dissent |
| The Number 23 | |
| Letters From Iwo Jima | |
| Factory Girl | |
| Black Snake Moan | |
| PERFUME: THE STORY OF A MURDERER |
Manufacturing Dissent Directed by Rick Caine & Debbie Melnyk Reviewed by Adam D. Miller Documentary filmmaker Michael Moore has made a name for himself by scrutinizing corporations and the U.S. government in books, lectures and well-crafted films since blazing onto the scene with 1989’s Roger & Me. Since then, he has become one of the most notorious figures in Hollywood. In accepting his Academy Award for Bowling For Columbine, Moore used the spotlight as his opportunity to launch a tirade against U.S. president George W. Bush and the then recent invasion of Iraq. The controversy only continued with the release of books Stupid White Men and Dude, Where’s My Country, as well as the hugely controversial film Fahrenheit 9/11. Rick Caine & Debbie Melnyk, longtime admirers of Moore, wondered what it would be like to turn the camera on Moore for a documentary about the man himself. The project initially started out as a biography. The filmmakers visited Moore’s hometown of Flint, Michigan, along with Davison, the town where he grew up. They spoke to old friends and colleagues, such as filmmaker Kevin Rafferty (who shot Roger & Me) and John Derevlany, who portrayed Crackers the Corporate Crime-Fighting Chicken and was a staff writer for Moore’s television series TV Nation. When it came to landing a formal interview with Michael Moore, as is well documented in the film, the filmmakers had no such luck. He kept telling them to be patient, and that once his schedule would allow for it, he would give them the time. Meanwhile, Moore’s security was becoming increasingly hostile toward Caine and Melnyk. At an outdoor rally on Moore’s tour of U.S. college campus leading up to the 2004 election, the crew is told to leave. And at a later appearance at Kent State University, Michael Moore’s sister allegedly kicked Melnyk’s camera to the ground after the crew is told to leave again. Quickly, the documentary takes on a new meaning. Michael Moore may chastise people like Roger Smith for not allowing an interview to happen in Roger & Me, but Moore seems to refuse this very same access. This quickly leads the filmmakers to a discussion of just how honest Moore’s filmmaking methods are in the first place. Most viewers already knew of the deception used by Moore in such films as Bowling For Columbine and Fahrenheit 9/11, but we are told about footage of Moore interviewing Roger Smith that was left on the cutting room floor simply because it did not fit with the concept behind Roger & Me. Other arguments as to Moore’s deceiving nature aren’t quite as convincing. We are supposed to view the man as two-faced and only friendly to those who support him, but the example used (Moore defending himself after being told by film reviewer David Gilmour that Canadian Bacon might not be a very good film) was unsucessful. In the end, the film becomes more about telling us what we already know about Moore and documenting Caine & Melnyk’s attempts at landing an interview. For that the film is seriously flawed, though moderately entertaining. |  |
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