By Stephanie Bomba
It’s a bird! It’s a plane! No, it’s, it’s … it’s Michael Moore’s BIG ONE and it’s headed straight for Toronto!
The Big One is director Moore’s latest documentary and chronicles the 47-city tour to promote his book, Downsize This! In the film, Moore attempts to speak with the CEOs of companies which have closed down factories at a time of record profits.
Moore is best known for his first film Roger and Me, in which he won international acclaim for his work and for his revolutionary guerilla-style camera tactics.
Moore’s latest endeavour is similar to his previous documentary with one exception: he is a great deal more aggressive in this movie.
In between book-signings and lectures, Moore and his camera crew set out to meet these “corporate crooks.” He wanted to give them a Downsizer of the Year Award along with a cheque for 80 cents to pay the first worker when the company relocates to MExico.
And, typical of Michael Moore’s style, the irony in the film was in full effect.
In The Big One, Moore actually meets with Nike chairman Phil Knight (99 per cent of Nike shoes are made outside of the U.S.). When Moore asks Knight about whether or not it bothers him that 12-year-old girls are working in his sweatshops, he replies, “They’re not 12, they’re 14.” Knight he goes on to say it doesn’t bother him at all.
Throughout the interview with Knight, Moore keeps trying to convince the Chairman to open a Nike factory in Flint and Knight keeps refusing.
One of the most amusing parts in the film is the sequence where Moore tries to explain his theory that multi millionaire businessman and one-time U.S. presidential candidate Steve Forbes is an alien. Moore came up with this theory after seeing Forbes on the tube and realizing that the man never blinked once in a two-minute interview.
Towards the end of the film, there is a sequence of all of the cities Moore’s been to on his book tour. When Toronto comes up, images of penguins on glaciers flash across the screen.
Moore also shows several workers who have been laid off and their reactions, such as those at a Payday chocolate bar factory.
Both depressing and hilarious at times, the movie is quite the eye opener. The Big One is set to open next month.
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