Manufacturing Dissent: Uncovering Michael Moore

Only a fool would think that Michael Moore is an exemplary documentary-maker. He’s a polemicist who’s prone to playing hard and fast with the truth for emotional and commercial effect. Nevertheless, some of the accusations in this documentary by a pair of Canadian filmmakers who initially set out to make a positive portrait, will make your eyes water, especially in the light of the recent crises at the BBC. There’s a lot of Moore-esque trailing of the big guy as they try and fail to get an interview with him during the 2004 US election campaign, but the real meat emerges from their analysis of particular episodes in his work. The staff of a bank featured in ‘Bowling for Columbine’ claim that the scenario in which Moore opens a bank account and leaves with a gun was a set-up, while, more seriously, there’s evidence that Moore did in fact interview Roger Smith of GM for ‘Roger and Me’, so negating the thrust of that film. Moore himself comes across as thoroughly unlikeable – but that’s news to nobody.