Michael Moore is more than a documentary filmmaker. He’s a cinematic activist, a provocateur who narrates his films with a folksy delivery and a working-class persona while employing the tools of ambush journalism and protest theatrics.With the success of Bowling for Columbine and Fahrenheit 9/11, he revolutionised the way documentaries are made and marketed, opening a whole new theatrical market to a genre once relegated to brief art-house runs and public TV showings. All that has made him a polarising figure and a big, fat target for his critics, some on the left, to be sure, but most of them on right side of the political divide. They criticise his political theater “stunts,” his satirical narration, his aggressive filmmaking, and accuse him of manipulating the facts to suit his argument.“Name one fact in my movie that isn’t true,” he says. “Every fact is 100 per cent accurate.”Sicko, his latest offering in the realm of documentary activism, offers even more controversy. His “impromptu” trip to Cuba with a small flotilla filled with 9/11 rescue volunteers, all of whom were refused coverage for medical treatment stateside for conditions arising from their work at Ground Zero, reportedly has resulted in threats of penalties from the Treasury Department over violations of the US trade embargo against Cuba.But more maddening to political opponents than any of that, surely, is the simple fact that Moore’s films fill seats. Just as the right-wing hosts dominate talk radio, the political and social documentaries of left-leaning filmmakers are the ones connecting with audiences, led by Moore and the record-setting $120 million box office for Fahrenheit 9/11, the most successful documentary ever.Moore looks and sounds in person like he does on screen, only more so. He’s overweight, though since making Sicko he’s confessed to changing his diet and walking a couple of miles a day. He comes off as easygoing, at times self-effacing. “To compare anything I’ve done with the Bush administration is the most despicable thing that they could say and it really shows how out to lunch they are,” he argues, roused at the very idea that he’s fudged and manipulated facts to suit his arguments. “What I’m doing is to point out how those in power are not telling us the truth, are manipulating us with their lies.”As an activist who uses filmmaking to spread his ideas and call for action, Moore is arguably the best . His films get people engaged, get them talking, and get them roused to political action. That kind of success is hard to argue with.
