(6/04)
Michael Moore has just won the Golden Palm for the best picture
at the 2004 Cannes Film Festival with his anti-Bush, anti-Iraqi war
masterpiece "Fahrenheit 9/11". I haven't seen the film in question,
but I'll call it a masterpiece anyway. I've already seen what Michael
Moore can do. If the cinophiles at Cannes have decided he's the man, I'm ready to call it a masterpiece. I trust
this man. It's been a long time since I've had a hero.
I wonder how many of us realize what a crucial figure in history
Michael Moore has become? I wonder if he
realizes it? He's just going along, trying to do something good. He
seems to have no ulterior motives. Maybe that doesn't sound like much
. but for someone who has managed to throw his voice so far; for someone
who has actually tickled the consciousness of some of the Monday Night
Football Yokels, he might be unique. He's my hero.
Michael Moore could be the most important man in America
and one of the most important men in the world.
Before you decide that such a statement is ridiculous --- or if not
ridiculous, somewhat exaggerated --- let's examine the facts: the current
government of the United
States is not misguided, erroneous, mistaken in its policy decisions or poor
administrators, it is evil. It is trying to impose the imperial
power of the United
States on the
rest of the world, not just for its national self interest, but, even
worse, for the personal interests of its leadership (and I'm not sure
in what order). In general, the rest of the world is resisting as best
they can, but the Bush Gang will not be defeated abroad. If the planet
is to survive these people, they will have to be defeated at home. The
American people, who are good people, are not getting a clear picture
of reality, mainly because their mainstream media sources are in on
the scam. There are some sincere people nibbling around the edges of
this "military-industrial-media" complex, of this global economy monster,
people laboring nobly to bring the truth to the American people ---
various internet operations and "bloggers" like this writer. But nobody
is doing it with more flare, more pizzazz, more "chutzpah", with more
pop talent and effectiveness than Michael Moore. The rest of the world
already knows the truth. Michael Moore is bringing it to America,
where the battle must be won.
Although the battle must be won in America,
the rest of the world knows that it is their battle too, that no one
gets out alive if the battle is lost. They know they cannot win militarily,
but they can fight the beast emotionally, morally and intellectually,
because America
still has a conscience, because there is still an underlying layer of
decency that can be tapped into. They know that something has gone wrong
in America,
in much the same way something went wrong in Germany
in the 1930's. But America's emotional decay is not so far advanced. There is still hope. The
Huns can be turned back if the truth can be smuggled through the tyrant's
defenses. The Cannes Film Festival, which has thrown its weight behind
Michael Moore for 2 consecutive years, is helping to fight the fight
. but what a peculiar love affair it is.
What does one envision when thinking of the Cannes Film Festival?
The sophistication of the French Riviera, the Bond-like casino at Monte
Carlo, a glimpse of royalty in chauffeured ostentation, fantasy yachts
twinkling at anchor just off shore, playboys, starlets, beauty and wealth
strutting their stuff in the nerve center of elegance, where "chic"
is more than chic, it's a way of life; the right clothes, the latest
hair, the proper scent, the perfect fit, the matching accessories where
good taste reaches its most sublime nuance, the "avant garde". This
is the hometown of cutting edge style and timeless grace, where the
ideas "beautiful people" and "jet set" were born. It's vintage western
civilization.
And then there's Michael Moore.
Michael Moore belongs in Cannes like a camel belongs in the rainforest. Michael Moore in a tux is
about as logical as James Bond in a McDonald's uniform. Michael Moore
is the type of guy who always looks as if he just got through working
on a car engine. Michael Moore's natural habitat is the bleachers at
Wrigley Field, sloshed and beer belly proud. Michael Moore's lack of
elegance is so natural, so consistent, so pronounced, so unaffected
and real, it becomes a style in itself. If Cannes is LaCoste, Armani and Gucci, Michael Moore is Flint, Michigan Wal-Mart.
Falling in love is perhaps the most inexplicable endeavor human
beings dabble in. The love affair between Michael Moore and Cannes is a doozy.
Who'd've thunk it?
Once again, it may sound exaggerated or melodramatic to say that
"the truth must be smuggled through the tyrant's defenses", especially
when we are talking about the nation where the Statue of Liberty is
the welcoming sentinel for the world. But if we examine recent history
perhaps I can at least get you to think about it.
Even before Fahrenheit 9/11 made it to Cannes it had raised
some dust on the road to fame. The Disney media empire, through its
subsidiary Cinemax, gave the film some free publicity by refusing to
distribute it. No matter how you slice this tomato, it's not difficult
to come to the conclusion that the Disney Mind Control Company did not
like the film's message, which it considered "too political" for those
expecting their daily dose of Mickey Mouse. One has to wonder if a sympathetic
portrayal of our role in Iraq would have been "too political". Perhaps they confused Michael M.
with Mickey M.? Whatever . Mickey does not criticize America.
Maybe Rocky and Bullwinkle can, but not Mickey.
At the risk of stating the obvious, let's get on record by saying
that Disney is not just cartoons, cruise lines and Goofy family fun.
It is one of the world's largest media dragons with heavy investments
in news programming and information dissemination. If they don't like
Michael Moore in the movies, what makes you think they like him any
more on their "objective" news broadcasting?
But this is not an isolated example in the landscape
of America's dwindling free expression of ideas. If we go back a short ways to
the "Janet Jackson Super Bowl", we see that the momentary flashing of
Janet's handful not only overshadowed the game, but a significant political
incident as well. One of the more prominent Internet operations ---
perhaps Move On --- actually raised enough money to run a political
ad during the halftime show as a counter weight to a Bush ad programmed
for the same time slot. One would be hard pressed to find the idea of
democracy working any better than that. Here was an opportunity for
the little guys to actually deliver their message to the same massive
audience the usual suspects always have access to. The problem was the
messenger . I don't remember who televised the Super Bowl in 2004, but
does it really matter? It obviously had to be one of the mega-media
conglomerates that monopolize the message. In any event, the messenger-beast
refused to deliver it, claiming it was too . yeah, yeah, we know.
And then there was the recent incident with a made-for-TV movie
about the life of His Holiness, St. Ronald of Hollywood, religious
Deity and Patron Saint of free market chicanery in the global economy.
Once the right wing zealots of American politics found out that St.
Ronald was not being portrayed in a heavenly fashion, the arm-twisting
began. It was not long before the media octopus responsible for airing
the movie decided not to do it, claiming it was . OK class, multiple
choice, choose one: A) it was on too early and the kids might see it;
B) there was too much stripes and plaids; C) it is in poor taste to
attack a president with Alzheimer's, especially if he had it as president;
D) it was too close to the truth.
This message tampering seems to have become a trend, not an isolated
aberration.
Have you ever seen that film clip where the famous football coach,
Vince Lombardi, is shouting at someone on the field and says, "hey!
What the hell is going on here?!" Michael Moore
has become a kind of political Vince Lombardi in a game where the stakes
are much higher.
How is it that Michael Moore has managed to get his message heard?
Given the rhetoric that so habitually defines America,
it is imperative for those controlling the message to provide a measure
of dissent . freedom of this, freedom of that, blah, blah. Michael Moore
cuts such an unimposing figure that it's easy to not take him seriously.
The "powers to be" realized he represented a contrary point of view,
but they were glad to let him represent it. He seemed to be an
easy mark, an easily "ridiculized" person. It's something like looking
at that goofy little bow legged guy named Yogi Berra, and thinking he
can't play baseball. Michael Moore is a socio-political version of "Colombo": you don't start to take him seriously until it's too late.
Michael Moore has become a beacon of hope for a formidable chunk
of American society that has been systematically excluded from the national
dialogue. They are not radicals; they are not traitors; they are a large
group of people who are slightly to the left of center. They have been
nudged off the political map by the Mickey Mouse wing of American politics,
who are armed with the media power to do it.
Michael Moore has been rallying these people. He's been giving them
their voice back.
He is a very important person.
