I was really getting spoiled at this point, and was in a great mood when I headed back to my old stomping grounds -- the historic Paramount Theatre -- and awaited the arrival of one of my personal heroes, Michael Moore.
"The Big One" is a remarkable blending of Moore's "Roger & Me" and "TV Nation." That is, it's a seat-of-your-pants snapshot of America, composed on-the-road as Moore embarks on a book tour supporting his (worth buying) "Downsize This!" It's a startling, breakneck portrait of the contemporary American social landscape -- a work that's both inflammatory and exhilarating. Moore continues the central thesis of "Roger" -- that corporate America is basically screwing the American working class -- and expands it to examine not just one example, but many, in shorter vignettes a la "TV Nation."
Moore is blessed with nerves of steel cloaked in teddy bear charm, a gift which he has cultivated into a powerful tool. He deftly takes us on a daring journey, and we get to see an America utterly ignored by mainstream media.
In one city, at a Borders Books & Music store, Moore is slipped a note to attend a secret meeting of employees who want to unionize. Apparently, the HMO they're stuck with doesn't have a single doctor in the entire county. (Happily, by movie's end they got their union. Now the issue has popped up across the entire chain.)
In another city, a huge plant that makes PayDay candy bars is being shuttered because -- get this -- it was doing too well. No kidding. Days later in another city, the company (Leaf) is bought out by Hershey -- the day Moore shows up at their headquarters to ask about the closing. Why are corporations getting away with laying off record numbers of workers while at the same time posting record profits? It's a damn good question.
Elsewhere, Moore encounters an ex-con who explains how TWA (and other airlines) use prison labor to man their phone reservation lines. Yes, hardened criminals are taking down your credit card numbers. What, nobody told you?
It goes on and on. And if you've never been entirely convinced that truth is stranger than fiction, you will be after seeing this film. What's so startling is that Moore isn't even digging for this kind of stuff. It just sort of finds him, happenstance. It makes you wonder what all else is going on out in America that no one in corporate media is bothering to report.
Moore does go looking for one thing, though. A Fortune 500 CEO that'll talk to him on camera. Finally, at the end of the film, he gets it. In a big way. Phil Knight, the bad boy boss of Nike, figures he can charm Moore into liking him. It turns out his wife gave him Moore's book for an anniversary present -- the same book where Moore lists him as one of his "Ten Most Wanted Corporate Crooks."
The meeting is a revelation. Knight's maniacal greed and total disregard for the American worker is utterly staggering, and he makes absolutely no attempts to hide it. I guess he figures since he's wearing a t-shirt and no socks, he's cool.
Moore asks him why Nike shoes aren't made in America. "Because the American worker doesn't want to stoop to making shoes. They think it's beneath them." But what if I could find 500 workers in Flint, Michigan who want to make your shoes? "I don't think you can." Of course, Moore does -- and makes a videotape and petition to prove it, which he brings back to Knight. "Well, they say they want to, but I don't believe they really mean it." And that's just the tip of the iceberg.
If the film had ended without the Phil Knight stuff, it'd still be a work of brilliance. With it, it's an unparalleled work of wonder. And only Moore could pull it off. It's a stunning achievement that's incredibly inspiring. Sometimes we forget the true "power of the press," and the responsibility inherent to it. Maybe because those running the media aren't setting such a good example these days. It takes one of us, an average joe, to have the nerve and the knack to assemble a rag-tag group of filmmakers, outfit them with off-the-shelf DV (digital video) camcorders, and dare to question "why?"
I was amazed by this film, and am telling every single person I know to go see it -- opening weekend! -- when it's released by Miramax next month. This is an important film that deserves all of our support in order to encourage the financing and distribution of others like it. It also happens to be pretty damn entertaining. (And it had better get an Oscar nomination come next February.)
Following the film, Moore took the stage before a packed house and was met with thunderous applause. He spent a generous amount of time conversing with the audience, expanding on a wide variety of subjects, including what we (the common folk) can do to change things. I was impressed by how well informed Moore is, and he gave some astute suggestions (many of which recalled Robert A. Heinlein's excellent "Taking Back Your Government," which is still an insightful book after all these decades). His biggest suggestion was to work at the level of local government to effect change, and start rebuilding the machinery at its foundation. (You'd also do well to buy his book and see this movie.)
He also filled us in on several great behind-the-scenes anecdotes. Probably the best had to do with a scene they cut out of the film. During the interview with Phil Knight, he presents Moore with a pair of Nike's actually manufactured in the U.S. (at their R&D lab where they make prototypes). This you see in the film. What they cut was a scene that occurred later, when a Nike publicist burst into the meeting to show Knight what was airing on CNN -- the Heaven's Gate cult suicide. And guess what they were wearing? Not just Nike, but the exact same Nike's that Knight had just given Moore! (Moore thought it would just be too cruel.)
Another Nike anecdote: apparently, after the interviews, a Nike representative approached Moore with the question, "what would it take to lose two scenes?" (Including one when Moore asks Knight, "Do you think it's right to be employing 14-year-old child labor in southeast Asia at slave wages?" to which he responded "They're not 14, they're 16.") Moore responded, "Build a factory in Flint." No dice.
Just to be on record, I have to say this: I've been a total Nike junkie for a long time. In fact, you'd be hard pressed to find more than a handful of days in the last ten or even fifteen years when anything other than Nike adorned my mechanized feet.
I will never wear Nike again.
Michael Moore, I salute you.
