About 500 excited fans are waiting for him beyond the curtain at the Palace Theatre in Manchester, N.H. for a discussion of his film SiCKO, which is also selling out every screening in New York, where it just opened. But Michael Moore seems a little down on himself. Just mentioning the word "controversial" ticks him off.
"I don't accept it," he declares. "I don't quite understand what the controversy is about. What have I done? I've kind of thought about this a long time. The things I've made films about—a dying auto town, school shootings—what's the controversy?"
Not only does Moore feel unfairly persecuted, but he also seems to be having doubts about whether it's worth it, whether anything he does makes any difference. Despite stirring up people with films like Roger & Me (1989), Bowling for Columbine (2002) and Fahrenheit 9/11 (2004), the problems those films confronted remain the same. Isn't he starting to feel like he's banging his head against a wall?
"Yes. And I often think, and maybe this is just my Catholic upbringing, but I often feel like a failure. I spend all this time trying to get people to pay attention and maybe do something. I take it out a lot on myself, and say, 'Maybe you're not doing it the right way. Maybe you're not reaching enough people and maybe you need to think about doing it differently.'
"I started with Roger & Me because I was hoping to do something to save my home town. That didn't happen. It's in worse shape than ever. School shootings continue. We're in the fifth year of this war. You could make a case that Michael Moore is fairly ineffectual in terms of using his art to effect change. Maybe I'm being too hard on myself. Maybe I'm taking the short view of this. Maybe in the long run it will have a cumulative effect."
Maybe he'll have better luck with Sicko, since just about everyone agrees with the film's premise that health care needs a total overhaul. On the other hand, though Moore is on stage here in New Hampshire, where it's almost impossible to drive a block without running over a presidential candidate, none of them has shown up for his event, and the only campaign workers in evidence are a couple of eager beavers for Dennis Kucinich. Will SicCK affect the upcoming election, or, as Moore lamented about his other films, not make much of an impact after all? And could it be that none of those currently running for president would make a difference anyway?
"I've not endorsed a candidate and have no intention to do so any time in the near future," says Moore. "I want to see what they have to say and what their plans are. There's one candidate that I wish would get into the race because I think he'd be good for the discussion."
Don't say Ralph Nader&
"&Please. No, Al Gore. I hope that he decides to run. And, yes, I hope this film will have a significant effect on the election and put this issue at the top of the agenda. And that is why we are here in New Hampshire."
Even though, except for Kucinich, all the other Democrats are pretending you don't exist?
"Well, I know it's a little rough on them. People think of me as this anti-Bush filmmaker. They obviously either forgot about me or weren't paying attention to me when Bill Clinton was in the White House. I was very much on him. As I was when Bush's father was president. I mean, I've always done this sort of thing. I think that's my job, to be right on top of the leaders of this country and make sure they do the right thing."
Don't you worry that by being rough on the Democrats, you might help facilitate a Republican victory?
"You just uttered a phrase there that's physically impossible," he says, "the Republicans winning the next election."
This story was written for the Boston Phoenix and reprinted here with permission."
editor@valleyadvocate.com
