As much as I agree with what Lee and Jim have posted below, there are two points I’d like to add.
The second reason, for me personally, is that Moore takes the thunder away from better, more responsible film-makers. Details below the break.
You want some good liberal documentarians? Try Errol Morris, the brilliant film-maker who made The Thin Blue Line, which got Randall Adams out of prison, and Fog of War, which provides, indirectly, massive insight into what’s gone wrong in Iraq. Morris spoke out against Iraq when he won his Oscar. But watching his films, I would have no idea whether he’s liberal, conservative or independent.
In just the last few years, we’ve seen a number of good, responsible documentaries that should provoke thought and outrage from the Left: Jesus Camp, Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room, Ghost of Abu Ghraib, Deliver us From Evil—that’s just off the top of my head. I’m sure I’m missing about six dozen titles.
Worse, the line between documentary and polemic has become blurred. So An Inconvenient Truth blends solid science with speculative panic-mongering. Who Killed The Electric Car? has to saddle itself with half-truths. It’s not that a documentary has to be absolutely 100% non-partisan. Or even present both sides fairly. Hell, I’m a huge fan of Penn & Teller: Bullshit! and I wouldn’t claim they present both sides in a 100% non-partisan way. Nor would I say that about the other films mentioned above.
But there’s a difference between presenting an argument and distorting the argument. A difference between presenting one side and presenting one fantasy. A difference between allowing your opponents to speak and putting words into their mouths.
The time and effort people invest in Michael Moore’s films is time they are not spending with better film-makers. Film-makers who may have an agenda and an opinion, but present it fairly and reasonably.
It is possible to make the case that Bush is a terrible president—but F911 is just political porn for Demcrats. It is possible to make the case that America is an incredibily violent nation, but Bowling for Columbine makes that point in a roundabout and factually erroneous way.
No one is going to claim the American healthcare system is perfect. It is possible to make the case for socialized medicine—although I will fight it strongly. But it is not possible to have an honest discussion that begins with sob stories, staged incidents, luminous depictions of socialized medicine, distortions, half-truths and outright brassbound lies.
Somebody’s got to be the BS detector.
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