On the evening of September 23 — six weeks before Election Day, for those of you who are counting — filmmaker Michael Moore did something novel: he released his latest feature-length documentary, “Slacker Uprising,” free of charge on the internet. While Moore may not be the first entertainer to pioneer this approach, his is the first feature-length film ever to debut online as a free download. Moore cites two reasons on his website for this grand Thom Yorke-ian gesture. First, as he closes in the 20th anniversary of his first film, “Roger & Me,” Moore wanted to give a “thank you gift” to all the people who have supported his work over the past two decades. Second — and here’s where Moore’s typically ambitious brand of optimism comes in — he hopes that “the release and wide distribution of this new movie will help to bring out millions of young and new voters on November 4th.”
It’s clear from the get-go, then, that, even more than its 2004 predecessor “Fahrenheit 9/11,” “Slacker Uprising” is meant as a rallying call to voters. In contrast to Moore’s other works, this film engages in almost none of the political lampooning or black comedic commentary that made the filmmaker famous. Instead, Moore plays it basically straight, ditching his usual muckraking to strike what is ostensibly a more earnest note — but one that, in reality, relies on a peculiar mix of idealism, bitterness and vain self-congratulation.
“Slacker Uprising” documents Moore’s speaking tour to a breakneck 62 cities in the 42 days leading up to the 2004 presidential election. Moore spoke almost exclusively at college campuses in swing states, his stated goal being to tip fence sitters like Pennsylvania, Ohio and Florida over to the left by galvanizing young voters. And if you didn’t already know how the election turned out, this would almost seem possible. The film opens with a scene of Moore speaking at a rally in Tallahassee the night before the election. It is the culmination of Moore’s five-week tour, and the mostly college-aged crowd is practically beside itself. The scene, which bookends the film, fades out with a stadium full of people chanting, “One more day! One more day!”
“Slacker Uprising” overflows with footage of this kind — young crowds, thousands strong, fired up with enthusiasm for booting Bush out of office. Moore, who in 2004 was still riding high on the success of “Fahrenheit 9/11,” also rakes in his fair share of the crowd’s adulation. (In fact, Moore includes so much footage of his own standing ovations that the viewer almost begins to wonder whether the film is a thank you to his fans, or a love letter to himself. But I’ll quiet the cynic in myself for a moment.) This pre-election fervor now seems semi-tragic, and Moore piles on so many clips of cheering crowds in the first half of the film, it grows almost monotonous to watch.
Moore spices things up later in the film with clips of celebrity appearances and performances (Eddie Vedder covering Cat Stevens; Roseanne Barr; some guy from “The Lord of the Rings”), which are moderately entertaining, but mostly serve as a reminder of how ineffectual Hollywood endorsements have proven in political contests. More moving, and, frankly, more to the point are the brief but affecting speeches delivered by Iraq War veterans and the families of fallen soldiers. This is when the tragedy underlying the film’s mostly optimistic face comes into sharpest focus.
Viewers also get a dose of what-should-be-but-isn’t political satire, as we learn that, about halfway through Moore’s tour, local Republicans tried to bar him from his speaking engagements. In Utah and Nevada, rich businessmen tried to bribe students into canceling Moore’s visit; while in Michigan, Republicans tried to have Moore brought up on criminal charges for the same infraction. The charge stemmed from Moore’s habit of throwing clean underwear and ramen noodles (the staples of slackerdom) as an enticement for registering to vote. In other areas, Republicans tried to legally block Moore from speaking at colleges.
In this sense, “Slacker Uprising” does its audience a service by reminding them of the volatile political climate and high emotional pitch of the 2004 election. Still, unlike the rest of Moore’s films, “Slacker Uprising” doesn’t tell us anything new. It goes through a somewhat painful rehashing of the events leading up to the election—remember Swiftboat, or Kerry’s late assertion that he would have voted for the Iraq War again?—and glories in the heartbreaking enthusiasm of college students ready to kick Bush out of office. As scene runs into scene, it’s tempting to wish that Moore had stuck to the muckraking scripts at which he excels. Given current public sentiment, though, it’s easy to see why he made the movie that he did. Most Americans are now against the war, and another “Fahrenheit 9/11” would not only be redundant, it would seem almost perverse — like saying “I told you so” to an alcoholic on dialysis.
Instead, Moore plays heavily on the emotions of his audience, using the footage from his tour as a way of invoking the hope and passion of 2004 — a tack that would have been more successful and meaningful had he focused on the “slackers” filling his crowds, rather than showing clip after clip of himself and other celebrities lecturing on social injustice. Even still, while Moore’s appeal to audience sympathy doesn’t always work, his film is a genuine effort at raising a rally cry among people like us — the new slacker generation.
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