Eschewing conspiracy theory and flagrant bullshitery, filmmakers Rick Caine and Debbie Melnyk pursue documentarian Michael Moore in their reasoned and well-considered retort, Manufacturing Dissent. SIMON SWEETMAN reviews.


MICHAEL MOORE is the most important thing to happen to the world of documentary filmmaking. That’s a fact. But of course, his rise from enfant terrible of the underground to a mainstream celebrity, via his 1989 breakthrough film, Roger And Me and then of course the gigantic hit, Bowling For Columbine (2002) was always going to set him up for the inevitable backlash. Post Columbine and his infamous Oscar-winning speech (“shame on your Mr Bush, shame on you”) the backlash hit full swing. His 2004 polemic, Fahrenheit 9/11 saw Moore sharpening more axes, grinding harder. And in an around his own books (Stupid White Men) came books about Moore, rather unflattering ones (Michael Moore Is A Big Fat Stupid White Man). You could admire the man for his gumption – or you could detest him for his apparent lies; however earnestly delivered. It was black or white. Left or right. The way things so often are in America – you’re hot one minute, and then you’re not. And of course with the Michael Moore situation it would always be deemed a case of right-wing conservatives screaming terror against a left-leaning liberal muck-raker. Enter husband and wife Canadian filmmakers, Caine and Melnyk; fans of Michael Moore’s work.

Rick Caine mans the camera, Debbie Melnyk props up the mic, and in a manner that is never as self-consciously aping as Morgan Spurlock’s (Supersize Me) the pair use documentary techniques, seemingly borrowed from Moore, to track and trace the man of the moment. Except, in a brilliantly circular nod to Moore’s Roger And Me, Melnyk and Caine never get to have a proper tête-à-tête with the author/director/political provocateur – despite that fact that Moore disingenuously agrees, early on in the film, to reply to any emails or calls and sit down, when he can, to speak with his Canadian fans.

Manufacturing Dissent is a quiet marvel of even-handed filmmaking. Finally the Michael Moore backlash really has some grunt, for here are two fans of his work doing their best to understand his motives. They may not get directly to Mike, but they speak to old school chums, former staff, other filmmakers and critics, all key figures in Moore’s life and career.

The film really gathers speed when assessing some of the leaps Moore has taken – whether you consider them to be rotten tricks by a man desperate to conceal the real truth in order to prove his own biased point, or means to justify an end when it comes to making a large point for a large crowd (that is, give or take an ounce of fiction and fact, and often a merging of the two, largely true) – Moore is guilty of manipulating his film subjects. So what? It’s film – editing is manipulation. Moore pretty much laughs off his naysayers. But Caine and Melnyk hit him where it hurts, turning the camera on him – his own weapon for conveyance of his version of the truth – when he is seemingly unprepared. They are certainly keen students, surpassing the master with his own stock-in-trade.

But, through an ugly scene where Moore’s sister pushes their camera to the ground and forces the pair to leave a speaking engagement, and through several bumps and hitches on their road to assembling their own version of the truth, Caine and Melnyk remain unbiased.

The cleverness of Michael Moore lies, undoubtedly, in the fact that he is a left-winger who has learned to beat right-wingers by using right-wing tactics. Here, two lefties stick to their guns, sticking also to the golden rule of documentary filmmaking; they observe; they do their best to look on, to document what unfolds before them. Sadly, they don’t get anywhere near close to unravelling the myth of Michael Moore. They don’t touch his television work – the early stuff being largely brilliant – nor look at his 1997 movie, The Big One. The onus is on examining the apparent and alleged lies awkwardly concealed in both Roger And Me and Bowling For Columbine. But both fans and detractors of Moore’s work would be wise to check this film out – a perfect example of how documentary gold tends to arrive when you’re merely skirting around the edge, kicking a toe in the water, rather than panning away for all your might.