Description: The controversial documentary by Michael Wilson examines the filmmaking methods of Director Michael Moore ("Fahrenheit 9/11", "Bowling for Columbine", "Roger & Me") and finds that not all is as it seems in the world of Hollywood documentaries. With the goal of getting an interview with the increasingly embittered and elusive Moore, Michael Wilson travels the country to tell the inspiring story of a nation and its everyday people, resulting in a film so honest and surprisingly self-critical that it will never win the top prize at Cannes.
Incorporating interviews with well-known cultural figures such as Albert Maysles, Andrew Breitbart, David Hardy, Dinesh D'Souza, Penn Jillette, J.C. Watts, David Horowitz and others, "Michael Moore Hates America" examines the present cultural dialogue in the United States, highlighting the often shrill and misleading style of Moore's documentaries in particular. See the film that Variety writes is "far more jocular, good-natured and thoughtful than Moore partisans might expect" and that Ebert and Roeper give Two Thumbs Up!
Sad irony, what an amateur! I was quite excited about watching this doco. I enjoyed all of Moore's films and find them to be quite informative. However, he is not completely objective about the issues he focusses on and in turn, he becomes just another from of propaganda. So I was interested to see what a doco entitled 'Michael Moore hates America' had to offer.
To begin with, i felt that the title was rediculous. It seems that in this day in age if we challenge and question aspects of our society and government, we get labled conspiracy theorists or traitors, even when those governments are suspicious and have proven to be corrupt. If we challenge the way our country operates and treats other nations, we must hate our country. What a lot of ignorant bull.
So I watched the doco, hoping to see a well presented and thought provoking film. What I got was an amateur who made no kind of conclusions and never really got to the point. The film maker who set out to criticize the way in which Moore presents his information, ironically followed a very similar format. It was really like watching a poorly produced Michael Moore film. The Film maker completely missed the point on epicly important concepts and issues that were raised in Bowling for Colombine, such as the scene in which Moore goes into a Bank that gives you a free gun when you open an account there. The Film maker critized Moore and said he mislead the owner of the bank, and granted he probably did. The point Moore was trying to get across was that "THERE'S A BANK THAT'S GIVING AWAY GUNS!". Even the film maker's camera man pointed this out.
I guess at the end of the day the doco is worth a watch, but I would recomend manufacturing dissent as a better alternative.
A Masterpiece of Truth Brilliant beautiful compassionate and honest, Michael Wilson's Michael Moore Hates America is so much more than the title implies. This film is about the nature of America, not so much an attack on Michael Moore as an attack on his grim defeatist view of his own country. Michael Wilson exposes the lies Michael Moore uses to make America look bad without resorting to Moore style tactics of ambush interviews, misrepresentation, dishonest editing, and a complete disregard for context. Wilson doesn't need these tactics because he has a much stronger weapon, the truth. All Wilson really does is follow in the wake of a few Moore documentaries, then he asks questions and reexamines the situation. What he discovers is that the hateful horrible America of Michael Moore is not the America of it's people, those Moore supposedly represents. Wilson gives the individuals, places and events maligned by Moore a chance to speak for themselves, and what they say reveals the unpleasant truth of Michael Moore.
Ironic What have you shown by discrediting Michael Moore's tactics by using those very same tactics? How does interviewing people who obviously hate Michael Moore show he hates America? If you can get by this there are some valid criticisms and interesting interviews. I'd recommend renting it from Blockbuster (I did).
Pointing out the obvious Michael Wilson makes a few good points when using Michael Moore's techniques when trying to get an interview, as in Roger and Me, or as in "overzise me" for that matter.
However, when critisizing Moore for making Americans look stupid, he does nothing to alleviate that image. He keeps doing the same tricks (or mistakes), as if to prove a point. Documentaries like these come in black and white, and as if we really need anyone to point out that Michael Moore's movies are dishonest and not straight forward (that's similar to assuming your audience is a bunch of dimwits, as you don't really need a nobel's price to figure that out by yourself). Everyone knows you can make anyone look like whoopy goldberg with enough editing.
This is the sort of "documentary" (both by Michael Moore and Michael Wilson) that makes us Europeans view Americans as uneducated, ignorant and, to put it blunty, dumb. How about doing documentaries interviewing educated people with intelligent insights instead? I suppose that wouldn't sell, so Michael Wilson has really learned lesson # 1 from Moore well. Attack the man instead of the issues!
STUPID WHITE DEMAGOGUE HAS THE TABLES TURNED ON HIM If nothing else, this cheap copycat film -made by a Michael Moore look-alike wannabe- proves beyond doubt that the vaunted social activist and filmmaker consistently lies to get his point across, and in doing so, he's no better than the politicians he so self-righteously lynches. And a coward to boot, for he chickens out when presented with the evidence. As to whether he "hates America", like so many Moorish tirades, that's merely a matter of opinion. But as the documentary sensei interviewed in the film concludes, "if (you think) he does, well, that's the name of your movie".
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