Related Threads on old board http://www.ferrarichat.com/discus/messages/132929/310519.html http://www.ferrarichat.com/discus/messages/132929/342611.html Editing being what it is - there are arguments pro and con whether it should be called a documentary or fiction. However, having viewed it a few weeks ago, I can say this with absolute certainty: Never again will I watch a film with the bigot, Charlton Heston. Image Unavailable, Please Login
Before I saw it, a friend complained to me that he felt Moore went too far making Heston look bad. After seeing it myself, all I can say is all the damage is self-inflicted. Heston looked like a pathetic ass.
I saw the part with the Heston interview. I am not a member of the NRA nor do I own a gun. But I did feel Moore ambushed Heston by implying that Heston followed up a tragic murder of a little girl by having a NRA rally intentionally. Once the tone was set, there was nothing Heston could say or do that would change the mood. Moore seemed to be asking Heston to justify why our society is so screwed up and produces more murderers than other nations. It could be because of easy access to guns, or it could be the court system allowing appeal after appeal, or it could be the degeneration of morals and doing what's right. If Moore was an NRA member as he said, and if he felt that Heston was inappropriate in his conduct in some way, why was he still a member? It was simply a way to get his foot in the door for the interview. If it was going to be a debate instead of an interview, he should have let Heston know in advance about the topic, and I'm sure it would have gone differently. You know the old saying, guns don't kill people, people kill people. If we are stupid enough not to know when to shut our mouth, and have no compassion for our fellow citizens, and do not live by the golden rule, then crap happens. Life isn't fair and never will be. I felt Moore was totally unproffessional with Heston, simply for the purpose of dramatizing for his film. I'm not saying that the entire film was this way, as it had many good points and positive results. But that "interview" with Heston was not an interview.
I thought the most telling section of the film was when Moore was walking around in Toronto and walking into peoples houses with unlocked doors! I cna't imagin doing this outside a seriously rual area in the USoA. I want to live in a society that allows a person and his property to be respected inside his home. Apparently Canada does develop its citizens such that leaving your front door unlocked has an acceptably low risk. What do you guys and gals here think we could do differently to enable this kind of "freedom" here in the USoA?
There is some disturbing data from, I think, Harvard Psyc, that supports Heston in his comment about diversity and violence. In fact it is down right troubling. But it is there none the less. DrS
I live in Canada and do not lock my doors when I am home. (I do at night and when I leave). But, i wonder how many locked doors Michael Moore encountered, and just didn't include them in the film! There had to have been a few.
If Moore called the film fiction (which it mostly is) from the beginning, I'd respect this piece more. But it's no different that your run-of-the-mill sensational liberal crap. Moore is a genius at spin, no doubt about it.
As a Pinko, Commie Bastard, Lefty, Liberal and someone who has made a living as a documentarian, I can say with all authority that M. Moore is NOT a documentarian and he is a class A jerk. I never thought I would be in a position to defend Charlton Heston, whose politics are about 180 degrees from mine. But I have met the gentleman and he is gracious and polite, even if you do not share his views. Sadly he is now suffering from Alzheimer's and was porbably coming under the effects of that disease when Moore ambushed him. Heston was one of the very first in Hollywood to embrace the Civil Rights movement and he traveled to Alabama in the early '60s to march in the streets along with Dr. King. Additonally, he has lent his time and money to environmental causes here in California. I prefer to think that Heston's NRA phase was also a result of the disease. While Michael Moore and I share some political views, his "means justify the ends" approach brings dishonor upon those of us who have a living telling an unbiased story without malice. If a documentarian (from the word to document, or record the truth) does his job correctly, he can show injustice, evil, or inequitry to his audience and they can draw their own conclusions. Apparently Michael Mooore does not trust the intelligence of his audience to draw their own opinions so he finds a way to "cook the books" to "prove" his biased point of view. Scott
Couldn't have said it better myself. I gave up trying to make that clear to my friends from art school (die-hard bleeding-heart liberals) because every time they would get furious and ignore me.