Celluloid Confetti

I’ve had great affection for Michael Moore since I first saw his 1994 series, TV Nation. Produced by the BBC, it was funny, political, and it featured Crackers, the Corporate Crime-Fighting Chicken (a man in a giant chicken costume wearing a cape).

(”He can’t come in,” said the security guard at one corporate HQ, eyeing Crackers with suspicion. “He’s persona non grata.”
“Shouldn’t that be chicken non grata?” Moore replied)

I don’t know if Moore’s new film, Sicko, features any animal costumes, but I’m keen to see it even if it doesn’t. Sicko, which compares US healthcare with that of other countries, including - notoriously - Cuba, has been showing at Cannes to a warm critical response. Heck, even Fox News gave it a good review (though it was one of those reviews where you’re not entirely certain that the reviewer has seen anything more than the trailer).

But I am still amazed by how much hatred Moore seems to inspire across vast swathes of the internet. There was even a film, Michael Moore Hates America (2004), a title which may or may not have been ironic (I find it’s so difficult to tell if someone is being ironic unless they wiggle their eyebrows at you when they are talking).

In the UK, TV Nation was part of a well-established tradition that dates back from That Was the Week that Was, and includes The Day Today, Brass Eye, Louis Theroux, Mark Thomas and even Borat. But in the US, Moore’s brand of investigative provocation, as seen on the big screen in Bowling for Columbine and Fahrenheit 9/11, is sometimes seen as tantamount to treason.

The thing is, I really can’t put my finger on what part of Moore’s politics gets people so riled. If suggesting that Americans might have a problem with gun crime, that the war in Iraq was less than a complete success and that free healthcare has its plus points makes Moore an extremist, then Gitmo could soon start to get very crowded.

It seems that, in part of America, the McCarthy-era view of Hollywood as a nest of pink-bellied vipers still holds sway. When South Park creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone made Team America, a brilliant Thunderbirds-esque take on the war on terror, they depicted Moore as part of a cabal of liberal celebrities, including Martin Sheen, Alec Baldwin, Mat Damon and Susan Sarandon, all trying to stop our heroes from thwarting Kim Jong-il’s attempts to start World War III.

Team America was hilarious, but I didn’t really get the central joke, mainly because the only time I have heard Alec Baldwin railing against anything, it was a family member.

Anyway, Charlton Heston used to be President of the National Rifle Association, Arnold Schwarzenegger is still Governor of California, and I think Clint Eastwood was mayor of somewhere for a while (or should that be Sheriff?). Even Sonny Bono made it as a Congressman, until he hit that tree. And there was that US president who used to be an actor.

So in the spirit of being fair and balanced, I hope that Sicko does well, and that Michael Moore continues to keep the liberal end up!

Crackers for president, anyone?