Manufacturing Dissent
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Movie Reviews of Manufacturing Dissent
Movie Review: It's all Here ... Watch and You Decide
Summary: 5 Stars
Just finished watching this film, along with "Michael Moore Hates America". This loser gets exposed for what he really is ... a self hating, America hating, sad pathetic man. Both films are excellent.Movie Review: Character Assassination Fails to Ring True
Summary: 4 Stars
I just saw "Manufacturing Dissent" for the first time, and what I came away with mostly is that most of the arguments intended to discredit Moore are calculatedly specious. At the same time this documentary is claimed by some to be an even handed account of Moore and his methods.
For example, much is made of Moore's manipulativeness. Well, I don't think I've ever known anyone in public life, especially in the political arena, get up to speak before an audience, on camera, without presenting a point of view! Usually just exactly what he thinks his audience wants to hear, which he thinks will gain him the most political mileage.
Moore is trying to present legitimate alternative points of view, which despite their frequently perfect validity, have been systematically ignored, if not derided, by public officials, politicians and journalists, who are supposed to represent the citizenry, but who in fact actually represent money and power, in most cases. Of course he's trying to manipulate us to his point of view, exactly like every other person in public life. You can't demand that every leftist also present his opponent's position! Neocons and other right wingers don't do that! People in journalism, business, industry, the military and every other source of power do the exact, identical thing, albeit in much slicker, better funded ways than Michael Moore ever did.
Take the case against the gun give-away by a bank in Columbine scene, in "Bowling for Columbine." He's criticized for having made it appear that they had 500 guns in the vault in the back room, and that they just handed them out over the counter there in the bank; they didn't - they were, apparently, in a warehouse 300 miles away. Well, effectively, that is exactly what they did! Perhaps they used a roundabout, circuitous method of delivering those guns, so that guys like Michael Moore (or any guy with a camcorder) couldn't film it so easily, but it came to exactly the same end. Those guns were in fact delivered to people who opened bank accounts, which is the only point. Sure, perhaps Moore made it happen in a way that was more cinemagenic, a way that made a more compact and tellable story, but the essential truth behind the story, as he told it, is absolutely true.
And sure, Moore understood early on that he was better off using humor if possible to get his message out. How does one get people to listen to ideas that run contrary to what virtually the whole commercial and conventional political establishment wants you to hear? How does one get people to hear words and think thoughts which government and industry have spent billions of dollars on PR and propaganda, over the course of the last 60 years at least, to prevent people from hearing and thinking? It's an established fact that the government spends more on propaganda, aka PR, than every other client of the marketing industry combined (re: Inventing Reality, by Michael Parenti, 1993).
What this film actually showed me is that Michael Moore is in fact a wonderful, highly intelligent and sensitive, mostly ordinary human being, as well as a bold activist, being savagely maligned by those whose vested interests are threatened by his films, ideas and success. Practically every effort to demonize him and assassinate his character falls flat, in MHO. The very cases used to discredit him instead show me a man of practically unimpeachable character, standing practically alone against that juggernaut that is the establishment in this country.
So what if he's not comfortable with his new-found celebrity, power and exposure, and makes a verbal misstep once in a while? Who wouldn't? He's not a slick politician, thank The Goddess and the God. Despite the fact that he's made a little money, only recently that is, he is, unlike any established politician, truly one of us.
If Moore has any serious faults it may be that he is not very politic - perhaps an understatement. But that is also his charm. When one is faced with overwhelming power, as anyone who opposes our big government, big industry, big business, or the military establishment is, one can hardly demand that he hold back! When the president of the United States goes on the air 3+ times a day, repeating the exact same oversimplified, propagandistic message, stating nothing more than that "the US is Right to be in Iraq," for months on end, to justify and promote his unjust, illegal and murderous war to the American public, as I clearly recall him doing, one can hardly ask a man to be meek in opposition. When this nation is absolutely swamped by biased messages from the well entrenched right wing, one can hardly demand that one of the few leftists left willing to call a spade a spade "present a balanced message."
So I think this documentary is very telling, though not necessarily in the same way it was intended to be. It was without a doubt a very good experience to have, seeing it that is, my only concern being that it may be possible for some to understand it, that is, to misunderstand it, in the ways it was intended to be understood, which I think would be an unfortunate mistake.
My apology if some think I talk about Moore more than about the film, but to me the two are inextricable, so it's hardly possible for me to discuss the film without referring ultimately to the man.
My star rating humbly reflects my opinion that this is a very well wrought documentary, which subtly attempts to deceive its audience.
Inventing Reality: The Politics of News Media
Movie Review: Turnabout is more than fair play in this documentary
Summary: 4 Stars
What is interesting about this documentary is that it is made not by conservatives, but by Canadian liberals who largely share Moore's left-wing perspective. They start out sympathetic to Moore, but, by the end, are finally forced to admit that Moore is a self-aggrandizing liar whose films, while entertaining and well made, are certainly not "documentaries."
The filmmakers are clearly not hostile to Moore or his politics. For example, they point out that Moore was absurdly and unfairly prevented from being admitted to his high school's "hall of fame." And one of their critiques of "Bowling for Columbine" was that Moore, instead of calling for a ban on the handguns which are involved in most gun crimes, launched into a convoluted critique of American culture. Most of the interviewees were left-wing activists who totally share Moore's politics, and worked with him at places like "Mother Jones."
So it is all the more damning when they expose Moore's shoddy propaganda. The film most comprehensively dismantled is the one that made Moore's reputation--1989's "Roger and Me." The whole conceit of the film is that Moore chases GM CEO Roger Smith around with a camera and microphone, but never gets an interview. In reality, Moore got a 10 minute interview with Smith, the transcript of which still exists, although Moore tried to get his left-wing colleague to deny its existence. Moore crafted the movie to make it appear that he was alone in his quest to call GM to account, when in reality, there was a huge union and activist movement calling for the same things Moore was calling or. Moreover, Moore changed around chronology and invented out of whole cloth a story about a stolen news van (and shot a fake local new segment reporting the "story"). He also created a scene to make it appear that he had been cut off from speaking at GM shareholder's meeting when, in fact, that never happened.
Then there is "Bowling for Columbine," in which Moore staged a scene in which he receives a gun in return for opening a bank account, making it appear that you could get the gun right there in the bank, when he knew very well that that was not how it worked. And his ambush of Charlton Heston, who was already suffering from Alzheimers, is aptly decribed by another left-wing activist as "mean," which it certainly was.
Moore is a good and entertaining propagandist, but he is no journalist and he has never made documentary in his life.
Movie Review: Worthwhile.
Summary: 4 Stars
It took awhile but Manufacturing Dissent eventually won me over. Ms. Melnyk illuminated a great many facts which Mr. Moore undoubtedly wishes remained hidden. First and foremost was the one regarding his place of origin. Moore, contrary to his claims, was not raised in working class Flint, but instead in middle class Davison, Michigan. Many other tidbits such as this one he certainly wishes remained suppressed. Fans regard him as being a regular guy who is approachable, but he is not. In fact, such a demeanor is the farthest thing from the truth. Moore is a smug, self-righteous radical who looks down on everybody else just as others of his kind do. This is highly evident in the context of the film as he refused to be interviewed by the director or even to talk to her privately--despite his initially giving his consent during a brief segment they recorded. His disdain for the low budget film director was so great that he actually had his security throw her and her crew out of his speaking events...continually. They were barred and tossed despite his claim of "liking Canadians."
Despite notable signs of slant--such as showing clips of battle in Iraq with a song playing lyrics like "another soldier dying"-- Debbie Melnyk does not do the standard leftist thing of completely ignoring her opposition. She interviews Moore's detractors and lets them speak clearly which is something that won my respect. Moore's megalomania is discernible in many ways as seen in the way that he refused to pay a music critic whose work he printed in The Flint Voice. The same thing can be said of the way he treated his coworkers at Mother Jones. Ultimately, Melnyk is honest enough to let the situation describe itself. Michael Moore, the supposed champion of the common person, is far above the masses and is too superior to allow the documentary crew to interact with him. If he is this much of a jerk to his allies on the left imagine how he treats the rest of the world.
Movie Review: Legitimate Criticism
Summary: 4 Stars
I agree with most of Michael Moore's politics and appreciate that he has helped bring many vital issues into the mainstream. He's done a ton to raise awareness. That said I also think the film "Manufacturing Dissent" is fair and has very legitimate criticisms of Moore's tactics. I would hope that Michael Moore would welcome the criticism. Many people will undoubtedly have a strong opinion about this film without watching it just as most conservatives have very strong opinions about Moore without ever having watched his films (Like the previous reviewer "Bob K" who thinks this is actually a Michael Moore film). I say it is wiser to keep silent until you can speak intelligently on a subject.
The one thing the film is lacking is context. Moore is popular because the mainstream media feeds off highly polarized simplistic politics. So to talk about Michael Moore with out talking about the mainstream media and its manufactured culture is like making a film about a football player without mentioning the football game.
Watch this film but also watch Michael Moore's films. For all the criticisms, Moore's films are worth watching but with the understanding he sometimes plays tricks to make his point. Even knowing about his tricks I still believe that most his points are valid.