Ryan McNeil
Saturday night I happened upon a documentary that I’d been meaning to see. The film is called MANUFACTURING DISSENT, and is a Canadian documentarian’s look at how over the years Michael Moore has skewed the facts in his films to present his own agenda.
I finished the film very disappointed.
Let it be known that while I consider myself a fan of Michael Moore, and will argue that his work has achieved great lengths in raising the profile of nonfiction and documentary films, I do not take his word as gospel. Just like anyone else who wants to tell a story, Mike has an axe to grind, and will present the facts that he chooses to present.
For my money, making a movie to prove this feels like old news. It actually feels a lot like the slew of anti-Iraq War films that are being cranked out. In both cases I find myself saying the same thing – “Yes…I know that…what else do you have to say?”.
There is an entire league of anti-Mooreists out there, so much so that one could stage an entire anti-Moore film festival. Since I don’t let all of Mike’s work rule my decision making, I’m very curious to hear what his detractors have to say. But if director Debbie Melnyk truly wanted to take down the beast, she should have come armed with more than just “Michael Moore relies on creative editing to slant the facts in his favour.”
Hello? This isn’t National Geographic – every documentarian uses editing to slant the facts towards the story they want to tell. Including you Ms. Melnyk.
One last thing – if you want me to take your doc seriously, you shouldn’t mis-pronounce the name of Hollywood’s biggest producer in the last fifteen years in your voice over.
It’s Wein–steen, not Wein–stine. Thanks for playing.