On Aug 18th, I visited Michael Moore in
Traverse City, where he was taking his first vacation in a year.
The last time I interviewed with him was at an international press
conference in New York on July 6th, 2004 where each journalist was only
allowed to ask only one or two questions.
But this recent meeting was held only for Japanese journalists because
it was two days before the national release of Moore’s FAHRENHEIT 9/11
in Japan.
Although I think that English readers might have had enough of Michael
Moore interviews and articles by now, I hope you'll enjoy this one
where a stupid Japanese interviewer asks Moore some ridiculous
questions he’s never been asked.
*******
Michael Moore: Oh, now "Canadian Bacon" turned out to be real! (laughs) It's funny because I was inspired by the Panama war. That's where Canadian Bacon kind of came out of. And then the Gulf War. And I wrote it after that, not thinking that history would repeat itself. But in the case of this president, Mr. Bush, this war has not help his popularity. It has ruined his popularity.
T: Japanese Prime Minister Koizumi said he would not see your FAHRENHEIT 9/11 because he heard it was biased. What do you think about that?
MM: I think the prime minister is very consistent in his position. First, he chose not to look after the Japanese people and chose to send the Japanese troops to Iraq. Now he refuses to see my film. So clearly, he's 2 for 2 in terms of being ignorant and making the wrong decisions. To say you won't see my movie...and then he made a comment about it saying that it was biased or whatever...he reviewed the movie without seeing it. That's very dumb. He's sounding like an American! Make up your mind before you see or look at anything. He listens to President Bush, and then he acts like President Bush, who also said he won't go see the movie because he already knows its wrong. That's not the Japanese way. The Japanese way is to educate yourself. Right? Look at all sides, and then make up your mind. He's not doing that and I feel very sad for this Prime Minister who is much loved by the Japanese people. I guess he woke up one morning and said, "I'm going to listen to George W. Bush instead of listening to my own people."
T: I think Japan is thought of as a very conformist country. But now in America people are getting very, very conformist. You really stand out because you are fighting authority and fighting for freedom. But that's very American, for me and for foreign countries. But now it looks like you are the only fighter left. So why are Americans getting so conservative and conformist? And how can you keep fighting?
MM: First of all, I'm not the only one. It just looks that way. But there's millions of people just like me and I'm just like them. I'm actually in the majority of Americans. 54 percent of Americans now say this war was a mistake. 54 percent, not just Michael Moore. The problem is you don't see or hear the other people fighting back because the media has chosen not to cover it. President Bush came to this town two days ago. A couple thousand people showed up to demonstrate against him. You hardly saw anything of it on the news. You saw nothing of it on the national news. And the local news had just a quick thing about it. This is a Republican area, and for two thousand people to show up and demonstrate and three were arrested. And you don't even know about it throughout all of America. Unless you live here, you wouldn't know about it. The media isn't covering it. I had to go out and create my own media so that you could hear my voice, otherwise you wouldn't hear from me. If I didn't make these movies, if I didn't fight to get them in theaters, get my books published you wouldn't hear my voice either.
T: Just like in America, some journalists attack your movie even in Japan. They say, "This is a very dangerous movie, this is propaganda, don't get fooled by Michael Moore" those kinds of things.
MM: Who's saying that in Japan?
T: National newspapers, The Mainichi Shinbun, and The Yomiuri ..
MM: Nobody respects them! FAHRENHEIT 9/11 is the anti-propaganda. The propaganda comes from CNN, Fox News, NBC, ABC, CBS, New York Times, and the Washington Post. That's the propaganda arm. They exist to put forth the Bush administration's agenda and their line every day and you never hear the other side of it. My movie exists to give you the other side. I'm actually more balanced than they are because I'm providing the balance they don't give you. I'm letting you hear from the soldiers first hand how they feel about this war. I'm showing you things in this movie that you don't see. Over and over again in this movie it's the anti-propaganda. That's what my movie is. That's why its shocking to people who see it because they go "how comes the news media doesn't show me that?" And people in Japan will probably say, "how come the Prime Minister didn't tell us this? How come we didn't know about this?"
T: Some critics say "there is nothing new in this movie. I already knew..."
MM: Know-it-alls, right? "I knew all that a long time ago! HAHAHAHAHAH (evil laugh)!" They just want to be thought of as smart, but they know nothing.
T: They only criticize the first half of the movie. They think it's some kind of conspiracy and propaganda.
MM: It's not a conspiracy; I'm just stating the facts!
T: They say you manipulate the facts. However, they mention nothing about the last half of the movie.
MM: They won't talk about the second half of the movie, because the second half...that is where Mr. Bush, Mr. Prime Minister of Japan...this is where they go down. They go down because they have no answer to the mother of that son. They have no answer to the Iraqi woman who comes out of the rubble crying about her home being destroyed. They have no answer for them, and they can't face that part of the film. So they try to focus on the first part and try and debate me on the Bin Ladens and the Saudis and all of them. But they never ever talk about the second half of the film. You know what though? The public that goes and sees this movie and they see the second half...and I'm sure it was the same way with you when they had a sneak preview in Japan last weekend...I heard there were tears from people's eyes. They sat there in the theater during the second half of the movie crying. And they leave that theater shaken when they walk into the lobby. And those Japanese that saw it last Saturday? They went home and told friends and family and neighbors that "you have to see this movie" and that's what happened in this country. So they can write all the words they want. Those words cannot fight the truth. Of that mother, of Lila Lipscomb, or the truth of those solders who speak to that camera in Iraq. They can't debate that part.
T: FAHRENHEIT 9/11 reminds me of the Charlie Chaplin movie "The Great Dictator". That movie was very much criticized at the time of its release. People said, "it's not a comedy; it's more like propaganda and it is very preachy." What do you think about Charlie Chaplin?
MM: Chaplin in America is remembered as the great comedian. But the other truth is, he was a great political force. He was a socialist and he used his comedy and his filmmaking always on the side of the little guy and against the rich man. It was always the Little Tramp against the boss, the Little Tramp against the policeman, the Little Tramp against the factory, right? That was his character, that's what he did. And he combined comedy with the tragedy. And people flocked to the cinema to see him. And he had a profound effect on the movies, on people, on politics and he became a danger to the point where he was threatened and couldn't get in the country because he was blacklisted. I don't have a favorite. I'm both of those people. In the famous insignia of comedy and tragedy, you know, the two masks, those Greek masks of comedy and tragedy? Well, that's what you see in my films. They're two sides of the same coin. Our best comedians have been the angriest people. Charlie Chaplin was an angry man. Richard Pryor was an angry man. George Carlin, I don't know if you know him, a comedian in the United States, is an angry man. Lenny Bruce, angry man. And they turned their anger into comedy, and then into a message to people. I hope people don't see me as just an angry guy, because I'm not just that. I'm all these other things too.
JP-MOVIES.COM
The
Best
Japanese XXX movie theater