Wednesday, June 2, 2004

“Roll the Ugliness”

By LINDSAY BIANCHI
lbianchi@ThecitizenNews.com

Strike one blow for the forgotten Americans, you know, the ones who ring you up at the grocery store or refold the sweaters you dig through at The Gap. The “Man” can only hold down the working class so long.

If Michael Moore shows up on your doorstep with his camera crew, chances are you’ve been a bad boy. Ever since he took the powers that be to task for sucking the life out of his hometown, Flint, Michigan, with the release of his first feature documentary, “Roger and Me”, the high profile personalities of the world have ducked and dodged his merciless scrutiny. They haven’t always been successful, but those uncomfortable encounters are one of the best things about his work.

Everyone from Bob Eubanks to Charlton Heston to Dick Clark have seen him coming and done their best to dance around his questions or simply avoid him altogether. I suppose when one sets out to expose the glaring errors in judgment which fill Moore’s movies, “No comment” is about the safest thing to say.

Disney, that American bastion of wholesome entertainment, wimped out when it came time to distribute Michael’s latest foray into the spotlight of shame, “Fahrenheit 911”, a supposed indictment of the Bush family and their spawn. Perhaps it was just too real for Walt’s cuddly world, or maybe there was a conflict of interest making their decision to jump ship necessary. Whatever happened, it’s nice to know that Moore doesn’t need the backing of a conglomerate like Disney to get out his message.

The Cannes Film Festival awarded him the Palme d’Or prize, the highest honor at the event, for his efforts. After rolling “the ugliness”, as Navin Johnson once put it, the crowd showed their

appreciation with a 25 minute standing ovation. When Miramax saw this, they rushed to buy the print from the Magic Kingdom and will release the movie later this summer. It will be interesting to see if the bumper stickered flag-wavers and the conservative upper crust will leave the comfort of their BMWs and Hummers to picket the theaters.

I think they will let Rush and Sean speak for them. They usually do. It’s easier that way. Thankfully, there is someone like Michael to verbalize our rage. I like that his medium is film, although he has put out a couple of “nasty tell-all” books. His cinematic statements will be around a lot longer than the radio waves that carry Limbaugh’s braying and blubbering. They will just float away into the dark reaches of space where they belong.

The damage those warped waves have done to the minds of hapless citizens all over this country is now being countered with freedom of expression that doesn’t resemble an extremist regime. The “liberal media”, that most dangerous of entities is alive and well, or at least out of intensive care, with people like Al Franken and Janeane Garofalo manning the airwaves and mouthing off. What’s good for the goose (and you know who you are) is good for the gander.

Ignoring the little people doesn’t really work. Refusing to read opinions expressed by others, no matter how truthful they might be only masks the fact that the rabble outside exists. I guess when you’ve got a lot invested in the gears that run this machine of a nation, it can be difficult to see the people behind the product.

I had given up on art’s ability to change things. Not since Upton Sinclair wrote “The Jungle”, that painful novel about the Chicago meat packing industry, has the efforts of one man’s vision been able to halt the “progress’ of human disaster.

Now it’s time for G.W. to take a good look at his handiwork and the acts of “patriotism” foisted on this country by the Bush dynasty and their “Harkonen-like” ways.

I haven’t trusted the government for a long time, not since the witch-hunt of the 90s which destroyed the hard work of our last Democratic leader and sought to discredit his strides forward. A spurned groupie, a bitter secretary and a prosecutor with the sophistication of Cotton Mather held sway over the common sense of the uptight American.

Instead, I trust the little man, the artist and the craftsman, the everyday Joe more than those who wield power over the masses. Michael Moore is one of these men. His fight is for simple folk. He is not impressed by money or power. He uses his art instead of haunting the halls of justice like some special interest parasite to change things, to alert the opened minds out there to the atrocious behavior and practices of the elite.

“Go ahead. Make my day,” he says. He’ll just go somewhere else and release his “propaganda.” In the end we all believe what we want to believe (unless the Shiites are running things and telling you what you believe). We buy the books and watch the shows that agree with our views. Right, wrong or undecided, few of us ever change sides. It is usually left up to the appalling crimes that punctuate history to force anyone’s attitudes to be questioned. Progress toward humanity is frighteningly slow. Now and then, a brave soul steps forward, willing to be unpopular, to say things that the majority doesn’t want to hear, to show images that repel and shock and ultimately enlighten. Whatever it takes to be heard, that is what artistic expression, in all its forms can do.

Some people say, “The truth will set you free.” Some say, “The truth hurts.” They are both right. The sad truth is they rarely hear each other.