Does Michael Moore hate America?

Washington Square News ^ | 11.05.2004 | Eric Kohn

[John Lenin]

Conspiracy... what conspiracy? Michael Moore and Mike Wilson have the same first name but totally different world views.
PHOTO: Zack Sultan /WSN

Call him the man who moved a mountain. Call him an activist, an underdog or a commentator, but Mike Wilson - director of the critically praised documentary "Michael Moore Hates America" - calls himself a libertarian. And a person who cares.

"I voted today," Wilson said in a phone interview Tuesday. "I yell about stuff when there's something wrong. I make movies."

Wilson started work on his film as a small project in his hometown in Minnesota. He intended its release to coincide with Moore's Bush-indicting "Fahrenheit 9/11" at the end of the summer, but last-minute developments hindered the progress of the production.

In the past few weeks, "Michael Moore Hates America" has opened in several Minnesota theaters and will be in national release by the end of the year. As buzz around the project has grown, so has Wilson's public image. He has appeared on "The Daily Show" and been invited to lecture throughout the country. Roger Ebert and Richard Roeper recently gave the film their trademark two thumbs up.

Despite an implicitly abrasive title, Wilson said the film is not a right-wing torpedo aimed at Moore's lefty politics.

"It's not really partisan at all," he said. "Some of the other anti-Moore documentaries sort of popped up in the last couple of months. [They] were just slapped together to get out before the election. But their goal was to be pro-Bush. This movie isn't about that. It's not about presidential politics."

"FahrenHype 9/11," an anti-Moore flick released on DVD shortly before the election, deconstructs the alleged political machinations of Moore's latest film with a talking heads approach, citing conservative pundits like Ann Coulter. In contrast, Wilson is the star of his own film, as he travels across America seeking an interview with Moore - a request that was ultimately denied.

Ironically, "Michael Moore Hates America" does not accuse Moore of being unpatriotic. Wilson chose to focus instead on what he sees as a consistent disingenuousness in the documentarian's public image. He speaks about Moore with an aura of subdued rage.

"Michael Moore is the American dream," he said. "The guy shouts about what he wants, gets to make movies and write books for a living. He's extremely wealthy. And every time he opens his mouth, he's on CNN. That's the American dream, right? But then he writes chapters in his books ... where he basically says, 'No. There's no such thing as an American success story.' That's a direct contradiction of his own life."

With Wilson's tirade stopping just short of invective, the filmmaker was quick to point out such flaws across a broad political spectrum.

"It isn't just Michael Moore," he said. "There are folks on the right who do it all the time. I chose Michael Moore because he was the springboard to tell the story I wanted to tell."

That springboard, Wilson said, first came to his attention after he saw Moore's 2001 Academy Award-winning documentary, "Bowling for Columbine." One particular sequence in the film deals with the murder of first-grader Kayla Roland, who was shot to death in 2000 by a male classmate. Wilson was bothered by Moore's portrayal of the boy who shot Roland.

"Basically, he made it look like the kid's mom had to go work two full-time jobs, couldn't spend enough quality time with the kid, so he acted out and shot this little girl," Wilson said. "That was a national story... and Moore left out all the stuff about how they were living in a crackhouse, that the gun that was used was a stolen gun traded for drugs, [that] the uncle and grandmother were arrested a week later because they were running a neighborhood crack operation - things like that.

"I mean, this kid had learned in that environment that violence was an acceptable answer," he said. "What Moore left out was really important. It really bothered me on a personal level, because my mom, when I grew up, worked two full-time jobs and went to school full-time. And I didn't shoot anybody."

Wilson didn't bother to address an underlying question behind the affair - why was a child growing up in a crackhouse, anyway? - but he doesn't really need to. Unlike those who have attacked Moore in the past for the extremist nature of his political dogma, Wilson is more concerned with the way Moore exploits the documentary form. As a result, Wilson's own film explores the lengths to which documentaries can be used before they cross moral boundaries.

Along with deconstructing certain key scenes in "Bowling for Columbine," "Michael Moore Hates America" features the advice of Penn Jillette. A fellow libertarian, Jillette is also half of the comedy duo Penn and Teller, whose award-winning cable show "Bullshit" seeks to expose, well, bullshit.

"Are we trying to make ourselves look important, funny and smart at the expense of someone else?" Jillette asked rhetorically in the trailer for the film. The essence of the documentary, Jillette explained, requires a certain manipulation of the truth. The hurdle for all filmmakers is to avoid manipulating beyond a certain point. It's a lesson that Wilson has taken to heart.

"It's really easy to fall into that trap," he said. "The trap that Michael Moore is in is that he believes that the ends justify the means. It's like, 'What I'm saying is so important that it's worth lying or manipulating the truth, even though I know that what I'm saying is wrong.'"

Wilson admitted that he understands the appeal of this brand of trickery.

"There's a scene [in the movie] where I sort of fall into that trap, where I do something I shouldn't do to get what I want - which is something [Moore] does in virtually every scene of every movie he ever made."

Wilson laughed dryly, with the discernible warble of frustration.

"But the difference is that I had someone there to call me on it, and say, 'Wait a minute. What you just did is wrong,'" he said. "And when that happens, and you have a conscience, you go, 'Yeah. Wow. That is wrong.' Even if my larger point is important, it's still wrong. I think the difference is that Michael Moore doesn't have anybody around him who will call him on that. And I think that's unfortunate."

Moore's questionable tactics have been under scrutiny since he first became a filmmaker. Following the release of Moore's "Roger & Me" in 1989, Film Comment editor Harlan Jacobson published an extended interview with Moore where the journalist called into question the uneven chronology of the film. Earlier this year, Mooreexposed.com founder Jason Clark, and David T. Hardy published a book-length criticism of Moore, titled "Michael Moore is a Big Fat Stupid White Man."

It was indictments like these, Wilson said, than spawned the derogatory title of his film.

"I would go see these Web sites or magazine articles or newspaper articles about some of the things Moore had done that were misleading," he said. "I would get to the end of these articles and see a conclusion that read something like, 'And so, Michael Moore hates America.' And I thought, you know, that's just as shrill as him getting up there and doing that [speech] on the Oscar stage. It's just sort of obnoxious. What value does that add to the debate?"

Wilson has found that those unfamiliar with his film's intentionally nonpartisan stance enter theaters with an initially biased stance. Since "Michael Moore Hates America" began its regular theatrical run in Minnesota, he has seen many people change their perspective after watching the film in its entirety.

"It gets people really fired up," he said, with noticeably restrained tones of satisfaction. "If they're on the left they go, 'How could you say that? That man is a patriot.' And on the right they go, 'You're right. That son of a bitch hates America.' So they walk into it with this sort of state of mind ... Then when they see the title, how it unfolds in the movie, that's that transformational moment where you go, 'Oh shit. Maybe I shouldn't throw rocks at my neighbor across the street just because he's got the John Kerry sign, or the George Bush sign.'"

Try as he might, Wilson was never able to pull off his much-desired interview with Moore - which begs the question: What would he have asked the man who spends so much of his career asking questions to others?

"I would've asked, 'Is it worth it?'" Wilson said without hesitation. "If I could get to [that] point in a conversation with Moore, [I would] say, 'Look, Mike. You and I both know what you do. We're both Americans. We're both educated. We're both filmmakers. I know what you do. So don't pretend you don't do it. Is it worth manipulating things that you know to be untrue?'"

Considering the positive reception the film has received from the high end of mainstream film criticism, "Michael Moore Hates America" has potential for broad appeal when it opens in several theaters around the country later this year. In December, the film will be given a rating by the Motion Picture Association of America.

"It's interesting, because here we are, we're in release, and we can't get a rating because we're independent," Wilson said. "There's nobody on our behalf, like the head of a studio, who can call up and say, 'We need a rating.' We know what the rating will be. It'll be an 'R' because of the language. It's really cut and dry ... it's kind of frustrating."

Problems aside, Wilson has undoubtedly made a name for himself with his film. While his reputation can only grow in the coming months, he does not plan to structure a career around making documentaries.

"I have a couple of scripts. One is a hockey script, one is a comedy and the other is a romantic comedy."

He chortled timidly.

"I'm not a documentary filmmaker at my core," he said. "I've always been a storyteller ... for me, that's sort of where I've always wanted to go."

Call it an American dream.

Correction: In the Nov. 5 edition of WSN, the article "Does Michael Moore hate America?" incorrectly stated that David T. Hardy founded Moorewatch.com. WSN regrets the error.

[John Lenin]

"Basically, he made it look like the kid's mom had to go work two full-time jobs, couldn't spend enough quality time with the kid, so he acted out and shot this little girl," Wilson said. "That was a national story... and Moore left out all the stuff about how they were living in a crackhouse, that the gun that was used was a stolen gun traded for drugs, [that] the uncle and grandmother were arrested a week later because they were running a neighborhood crack operation - things like that.

[South40]

From Michael Moore's website.

[SeaBiscuit]

the question is not what he hates but what he covets most, which is money, attention and cheeseburgers.

[beyond the sea]

Unlike those who have attacked Moore in the past for the extremist nature of his political dogma, Wilson is more concerned with the way Moore exploits the documentary form.

Excellent........

Moore should have his Oscar taken back because that particular award was not given for a documentary.

Moore is a lying thief, and the Hollywood goons who gave him the Oscar are all slimey whores.

[SteveMcKing]

He makes no secrete that he hates white people.

[TADSLOS]

No, he just loves money and has found a clever, yet despicable way to make loads of it.

[DoughtyOne]

I would urge that we be careful about allowing the left to cast this as a religious victory. Far more folks than Christians voted for Bush over Kerry. They're just trying to find a group to demagogue.

The left just doesn't get it, that most Americans respect the military. Most Americans don't see the United States as the major problem on the planet, but do see terrorist that way. Most Americans do think Bush is doing the right thing when it comes to the war on terrorism.

Pinning the victory on the religious and the anti-homosexual marriage vote is dilusional.

[KentTrappedInLiberalSeattle]

Does Michael Moore hate America?

This is a trick question, right...? :)

[Excuse_My_Bellicosity]

I don't know and I don't care. He purposely lied in order to further his own personal bank account, his political agenda, and to hurt the president and the war effort. Before the Vietnam War, this bastard would have been hauled in and prosecuted for treason, sedition, or similar charges. Nowadays, he gets all kinds of awards including an Oscar, tens of millions of dollars, and notoriety that will only help him on his future filmmaking endeavors. Makes me sick.

[Tijeras_Slim]

[JessieHelmsJr]

Its funny to watch commies turn on each other! I been lurking over at DU and they are calling him a fat f*ck!I thought he was their hero.ROFLMAO!!

[Excuse_My_Bellicosity]

I find it interesting that he's racist against whites. Self-loathing is a common Hollywood fetish these days, and Mikey sure seems to have it.

[John Lenin]

The truth is Michael Moore hates himself.

[R. Scott]

Does Michael Moore hate America?

It’s obvious that he does.

[GeekDejure]

Does Michael Moore hate America?

============

Does John Kerry have 4 Purple Hearts?

[SunnySide]

"He makes no secrete that he hates white people."

He hates stupid white men = MAJOR SELF PROJECTING ON A COLLOSSAL SCALE.

[makoman]

He craves the attention his father never gave him!

[Fenris6]

"From Michael Moore's website."

Cute, but he's assuming alot if he thinks all those RED precincts are going with CA. Funny how the parasites expect the hosts to move with them. Not.

[Excuse_My_Bellicosity]

Pinning the victory on the religious and the anti-homosexual marriage vote is dilusional.

Typical liberals. They demonize those of us who voted for Bush by saying that we are evangelical Christians (bringing visions of Jimmy Swaggert and Jim Baker immediately to mind) and "homophobes" (implying that we are all the same and deathly afraid of anybody different). It's a straight-up lie and I don't appreciate it at all.

I'm wagering that a sense of patriotism and self-defense is leading Bush voters more than religion or the supposed hatred of homosexuals (or others that are "different").

[nothernlights]

Was That Oscar Meyer award?