Has Cried Wolf Too Often To Be Taken Seriously

Dana Stevens: Michael Moore — a clown for social justice

Posted: September 28, 2009, 10:45 AM by NP Editor

If you already dislike Michael Moore, Capitalism: A Love Story (Overture Films), his latest documentary/ provocation/performance-piece/decoupage project isn't likely to win you over. And if you love him without reservations, this movie has nothing to tell you that you haven't already shouted through a bullhorn at a "Free Mumia" rally. But is there anyone who falls cleanly into that latter category of unabashed Moore love? The hulking Michigander's 20-year career as an agitprop prankster, his stalwart refusal either to go away or to hone the blunt instrument of his demagogic style, has made Moore a problem for the left and the right. Even those who largely agree with Moore's politics are often mortified by the delivery system: the juvenile stunts, the easy demonization of his opponents, the deliberate donning of blinders when a cogent counterargument comes along.

And yet, and yet: There's something touching, even a little bit noble, about Moore's eternal willingness to serve as America's shame-free populist gadfly. Woven into the two hours of loosely connected anecdotes that make up Capitalism is some information about Moore that, if I knew it already, hadn't registered before: He's a lifelong Catholic, educated at parochial schools in Flint, Mich., whose childhood dream was to enter the priesthood. He interviews several priests in this movie, including the one who officiated at his own wedding. Seeing Moore as a working-class altar boy somehow put his strident buffoonery in a different light: Perhaps all the goofy posturing and put-on naivete is Moore's way of playing the holy fool.

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