J. Mark Price
Staff Writer
Review
Eight years ago, General Motors shut down several plants in the town of Flint, Mich. Many people were put out of work, and the town was sent into an economic downslide. The difference between this sad but all-too-familiar tale and others like it was an enraged Flint resident named Michael Moore.
Moore went on a rampage for accountability, documenting his hunt for elusive GM CEO Roger Smith in the critically-acclaimed feature Roger and Me. The film created something of a folk hero in Moore, who wrote and starred in the documentary.
The Big One is a documentary as well, recording the goings-on of Moore's book-signing tour that followed the release of Down-Size This, his literary attack on big business.
Mostly, he attacks companies that have handed down mass layoffs in the face of record profits. In each case, he and his cameramen wander into the offending company's offices unannounced, attempting to make meaningful contact with the CEO or other power figure.
In the only instance in which Moore is allowed dialogue with anyone meaningful, he chastises Phil Knight, the CEO of Nike, for producing an overwhelming percentage of his company's popular shoes in war-ravaged Indonesia. It is an unrefuted fact that nearly all of the Nike labor in that country is performed by young children, mostly female, many not older than 14.
In one of the film's more effective segments, footage of these conditions is shown. Knight, to his credit, does appear in a candid and unrehearsed interview with Moore, no small decision considering the hundreds of millions of dollars in production that he is liable for. But to his considerable detriment, Knight freely admits to the child-labor situation and also confirms he has never visited the factories.
Moore's sentiment is sweet and heartfelt. The problem is his crude method of orchestration. You cannot walk unannounced into most corporate headquarters with cameras and a nasty agenda and expect to see anyone of import, much less engage in an effective meeting.
If anything, he proves his hypothesis of our country's flawed power infrastructure by a means he did not intend. What we actually see is a poorly-equipped idealist spouting populist pearls of wisdom while being systematically rejected and turned away from nearly every door he tries to enter.
Perhaps he creates an adequate measure of our current society in that picture of himself alone. Certainly he raises a well-founded argument for change, but he makes an equally adamant case for making sure the revolutionaries are heavily-laden with the proper tools, especially preparedness.
Moore interlaces the corporate confrontations with some funny monologue material. As the showdowns grow more monotonous and repetitive, the comedy provides a substantial amount of solid relief on his not-so-funny subject material.
The humor is on target, Moore's heart is squarely in the right place, but in the end, you sense that his voice just isn't strong enough.
MPAA Rating:
PG-13
Running Time:
96 min
Playing At:
Landmark River Oaks