Michael and Me
I wrote this article directly following The Traverse City Film Festival in Traverse City, MI in July 2005. Founded by controversial writer/director Michael Moore, the festival provided the public easy access to the Oscar winner. This is my story of my attempt to study him and reach him with some Good News.
The five-day long inaugural Traverse City Film Festival just wrapped with nearly 50,000 admissions, 500 volunteers pitching in, the resurrection of a historic downtown theater, and sell-out screenings at most of the festival's 31 films. Documentaries like ENRON: THE SMARTEST GUYS IN THE ROOM and GRIZZLY MAN, played along with premiere’s such as BROKEN FLOWERS and foreign films like 1995’s LES MISERABLES. Every night in a city park, free family friendly movies like PRINCESS BRIDE and CASABLANCA played on a portable screen.
Founded by Oscar-winning, ultra-liberal Michael Moore, the event was mired in controversy and it polarized the community. One area resident, Genie Aldrich, brought in the American Film Renaissance group from Texas to hold a counter, protest two-day film festival called The Traverse Bay Freedom Filmfest. They played conservative documentaries like IN THE FACE OF EVIL: REAGAN’S WAR IN WORD AND DEED, and MICHAEL MOORE HATES AMERICA; and they played a premiere drama on teen abstinence called ECHOES OF INNOCENCE.
Three objectives became apparent to me. First, I wanted to find the real mood, culture and intent of each festival. Second, I wanted to give a copy of my book to all the founders and committee members of each film festival, including Michael Moore. (My hope was to encourage the faithful and to lead the unredeemed to an understanding of faith in Christ.) Third, I wanted to observe Michael Moore and draw my own conclusions on how this man behaved in public. I wanted to discover the Michael Moore who isn’t the media Michael Moore, as determined by his own movies and as painted by agenda-driven media organizations.
Weeks before either festival began, the lines were being drawn in the sand. Michael Moore and his crew insisted that they were going to show “just good movies� without any political agenda involved. One editorialist in the local paper said “Michael Moore is a political event.� Michael Moore insisted he wasn’t going to show any of his movies at the TC Film festival. Many conservatives doubted him by saying he has a track record of lying. Some wondered if attending his film festival would somehow encourage him in his own agenda. Others said flat out, “I’m not going.� Further controversy mounted when it was discovered that Genie Aldrich wasn’t a Traverse City resident, and furthermore, she was brining in a Texas group to hold their film festival. (Michael Moore is a Michigan native, but Traverse City isn’t exactly his hometown either. He lives in Antrim county, one county over.) Finally, others were upset that the Traverse Bay Freedom Filmfest was holding blatantly, politically conservative films while Michael Moore was holding “just good films.� Somewhere in all the rhetoric and controversy laid the truth, and I wanted to find it. The festivals hadn’t even started yet and my mission was just beginning.
To cool some of the arguments and to offer some positive hope in the middle of this cinematic quagmire, I submitted the following letter to the editor, which was eventually published prior to both festivals in our local paper, the Traverse City Record-Eagle. “As a movie critic, Christian and author, I’d like to offer a positive Christian perspective to the Traverse City Film Festival. First, I think we should thank Michael Moore and the planning committee for bringing in great and beautiful films, especially ones that celebrate life, family and good storytelling like MAD HOT BALLROOM. Even the more controversial ones can spurn discussion on our purpose under Heaven. Christianity offers answers to such questions. Secondly, I encourage the Christian community to start and offer discussion groups to wrestle with some of the issues raised in the films shown. Thirdly, we should pray for Michael Moore that God would bless him and draw him unto Himself. Doesn’t Jesus say to love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you? Third, the Christian community should see the Traverse City Film Festival as an opportunity to show love and compassion to visitors of our city. In years to come, churches and Christian individuals could do all kinds of great things in Jesus name like offer free water and/or housing to attendees. I’m no fan of Michael Moore movies, but Jesus loves him too.�
To achieve my second objective, I carried a book bag full of books around with me wherever I went in case I ran into festival committee members. My biggest prayer was to give a copy to Michael Moore personally. I had heard he was fairly accessible to the public. I was able to give out six copies of my book to committee members of the Traverse City Film Festival, including Michael Moore’s assistant, Jason, and one of the co-founders, local photographer John Robert Williams. One committee member said she’d introduce me personally to Michael Moore, but at the event where I had hoped to do this, he ran off as soon as he was done speaking. The only time I forgot to take my book with me was when he came and introduced a film I attended. Afterwards, he was sitting alone at a chair near the front. I approached him and thanked him for the film festival, but all I could offer him was a handshake. Drat! Thankfully, I have a Christian friend on the TC Film festival committee and he said, “After the film festival, give me the books you couldn’t deliver and I’ll make sure they get in the hands of the other committee members at one of our follow up meetings.� So, I did and I still pray that Michael Moore gets his book. (Incidentally, I know he has read Christian books before because he bought one from a friend and fellow Christian author at one of her book signings.)
Now, the other half of my objective was getting books to the members of the Traverse Bay Freedom Filmfest planning committee. I came waltzing into the door of the venue where they were having their event and the first thing that happens to me is that a security member is checking out my book bag. He asked me to open it up. I obliged and actually, I’m quite thankful, anywhere, these days, to have good security at events that draw crowds. I mention this fact, however, because I never once had my bag checked at the Traverse City Film Festival, even at events where Michael Moore attended. Foolish? Perhaps, given his controversial nature, but also slightly refreshing, a momentary throwback reminder to the days when people could gather without a threat of getting blown-up by some lunatic. Even so, I was able to get my book to Genie Aldrich, and other members of her team. And, they were very thankful. Number two mission - accomplished!
Now, all I had to do was keep trying to find Michael Moore and track his words and behaviors. As a conservative who follows conservative media, I know full well what they think of Michael Moore. I agree with them, politically. I think he has done a terrible disservice to this country by lying and distorting the truth in his movies. To this, I hold him accountable. In the future, if he lies or distorts the truth in his movies, I’ll expose it and condemn it. But I wondered if his private, hometown persona differed from his media image. I wanted to discover the “real� Michael Moore versus the “reel� Michael Moore.
Knowing I couldn’t accurately summarize him in a few brief encounters, I nevertheless wanted to see if 1) he lies at all in public, 2) slams Bush or Republicans in public, 3) says anything “religious� or otherwise revealing his “worldview,� and 4) see how he treats his fellow men both media giants and common. I thought I had heard him lie when he spoke at a free forum in public. Moore said, that the volunteers could see movies for free. Right away, I thought, “That’s a lie.� Because my friend on the film festival committee said that even he couldn’t get in free to the movies. But after checking it out, I found out volunteers could see movies for free, if they got their work done first. So, I repented for my prejudice. As far as I know, nothing else he said as a factual statement turned out to be untrue.
When he claimed that the films in the TC Film Festival were “just good films,� I wanted to see what his definition of good films were. If good means, thoughtful, intelligent, artistic, and not the standard dumbed-down Hollywood fare, than yes, his movies are “good.� I found most of them entertaining and challenging. But, some of the documentaries shown included subtle jabs at conservative politics. ENRON: THE SMARTEST GUYS IN THE ROOM blamed Republicans for deregulation of big business and tried to tie a character link with Bush with Ken Lay, the fallen leader of ENRON. CZECH DREAM took stabs at Western consumerism and commercialism (not all bad if you ask me.) Other films like MY SUMMER OF LOVE directly made fun of Christians and it depicted lesbian sex too. Otherwise, many other films also included non-Christian worldviews. To their credit, the TC Film Festival did show the moral worldview movie ITALIAN FOR BEGINNERS, LES MISERABLES and the moral MAD HOT BALLROOM.
Michael Moore did speak at an open to the public forum called “The Traverse City Film Festival. Is it political? Traverse City wants to know.� Early in the talk, Michael Moore said the “F-word� (then apologized), and he went on to say that he, himself, has added to public/media perception of who this Michael Moore is. He then blamed the Left for putting politics before art in their movies. (I immediately thought, “OK? And your films lead with art?) He continued and thanked local Republican congressman Kevin Elsenheimer for writing a letter and endorsing the film festival. He said, “We will be judged by how we treat the poor. The Bible speaks prominently about two things. First, it talks about redemption. Second, it talks about doing good for the poor.� Personally, I was surprised he mentioned the Bible positively.
He then quoted Christ. Remember my letter to the editor? Michael Moore said he was reading the letters to the editor to gauge public perception of the film festival. He echoed what I told him in my letter to the editor by saying to the crowd, “Jesus said, ‘Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you.’� Now, mind you, Michael Moore was talking to mostly libs about how they should treat conservatives, but to use Biblical, gracious language seemed out of character for him. Perhaps God is trying to reach him? Finally, Michael Moore said, “God bless the Traverse Bay Freedom Filmfest people. I welcome their entry into the public debate about what’s good for America.� Again, I was pleasantly surprised by Michael Moore and even asked myself, “Is this the same man who sarcastically ripped on President Bush?�
One final note to Michael Moore’s character. He ran an event called “Mike’s Surprise� where he was going to show a mystery film. Everybody thought he was going to show a rough cut of one of his new films in progress. He got up before the crowd and said “I promised the city council I wouldn’t show any of my films in the film festival, and I won’t this year.� (Note the words, “this year.� Many fear this will become a Michael Moore film fest in years to come, instead of the Traverse City Film Fest.� Moore continued, “In honor of the Traverse Bay Freedom Filmfest and what they are doing over there, I offer you Mike’s Surprise, one of my favorite films of all time, Monty Python’s THE LIFE OF BRIAN.� This movie angered many Christians when it was released for telling the story of a crucified, false messiah in the time of Christ. All this to say, God still has lots of work to do on Michael Moore.
So what are we to do? The TC Film Festival looks poised to be a permanent fixture in Traverse City for many years to come. I repeat what I said in my letter to the editor. We should continue to pray for Michael Moore and the TC Film Festival Committee members. We should analyze and do fair reviews on the films they will show. We do hold discussion groups and bring Christian perspectives to these films. We can organize outreach opportunities to the community because when tens of thousands are gathering anywhere, it means to me, opportunities for service to many people. Furthermore and finally, I applaud the Traverse Bay Freedom Filmfest for sticking up for truth and America. It was a very courageous thing to hold their event at the same time as Michael Moore’s. My only prayer is that as lies are exposed and truth is told, it would be done in a spirit of love. Jesus loves Genie Aldrich, but Jesus also loves Michael Moore and it looks as if Michael is opening his Bible more these days. Let’s not give him an excuse to close it shut.
The five-day long inaugural Traverse City Film Festival just wrapped with nearly 50,000 admissions, 500 volunteers pitching in, the resurrection of a historic downtown theater, and sell-out screenings at most of the festival's 31 films. Documentaries like ENRON: THE SMARTEST GUYS IN THE ROOM and GRIZZLY MAN, played along with premiere’s such as BROKEN FLOWERS and foreign films like 1995’s LES MISERABLES. Every night in a city park, free family friendly movies like PRINCESS BRIDE and CASABLANCA played on a portable screen.
Founded by Oscar-winning, ultra-liberal Michael Moore, the event was mired in controversy and it polarized the community. One area resident, Genie Aldrich, brought in the American Film Renaissance group from Texas to hold a counter, protest two-day film festival called The Traverse Bay Freedom Filmfest. They played conservative documentaries like IN THE FACE OF EVIL: REAGAN’S WAR IN WORD AND DEED, and MICHAEL MOORE HATES AMERICA; and they played a premiere drama on teen abstinence called ECHOES OF INNOCENCE.
Three objectives became apparent to me. First, I wanted to find the real mood, culture and intent of each festival. Second, I wanted to give a copy of my book to all the founders and committee members of each film festival, including Michael Moore. (My hope was to encourage the faithful and to lead the unredeemed to an understanding of faith in Christ.) Third, I wanted to observe Michael Moore and draw my own conclusions on how this man behaved in public. I wanted to discover the Michael Moore who isn’t the media Michael Moore, as determined by his own movies and as painted by agenda-driven media organizations.
Weeks before either festival began, the lines were being drawn in the sand. Michael Moore and his crew insisted that they were going to show “just good movies� without any political agenda involved. One editorialist in the local paper said “Michael Moore is a political event.� Michael Moore insisted he wasn’t going to show any of his movies at the TC Film festival. Many conservatives doubted him by saying he has a track record of lying. Some wondered if attending his film festival would somehow encourage him in his own agenda. Others said flat out, “I’m not going.� Further controversy mounted when it was discovered that Genie Aldrich wasn’t a Traverse City resident, and furthermore, she was brining in a Texas group to hold their film festival. (Michael Moore is a Michigan native, but Traverse City isn’t exactly his hometown either. He lives in Antrim county, one county over.) Finally, others were upset that the Traverse Bay Freedom Filmfest was holding blatantly, politically conservative films while Michael Moore was holding “just good films.� Somewhere in all the rhetoric and controversy laid the truth, and I wanted to find it. The festivals hadn’t even started yet and my mission was just beginning.
To cool some of the arguments and to offer some positive hope in the middle of this cinematic quagmire, I submitted the following letter to the editor, which was eventually published prior to both festivals in our local paper, the Traverse City Record-Eagle. “As a movie critic, Christian and author, I’d like to offer a positive Christian perspective to the Traverse City Film Festival. First, I think we should thank Michael Moore and the planning committee for bringing in great and beautiful films, especially ones that celebrate life, family and good storytelling like MAD HOT BALLROOM. Even the more controversial ones can spurn discussion on our purpose under Heaven. Christianity offers answers to such questions. Secondly, I encourage the Christian community to start and offer discussion groups to wrestle with some of the issues raised in the films shown. Thirdly, we should pray for Michael Moore that God would bless him and draw him unto Himself. Doesn’t Jesus say to love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you? Third, the Christian community should see the Traverse City Film Festival as an opportunity to show love and compassion to visitors of our city. In years to come, churches and Christian individuals could do all kinds of great things in Jesus name like offer free water and/or housing to attendees. I’m no fan of Michael Moore movies, but Jesus loves him too.�
To achieve my second objective, I carried a book bag full of books around with me wherever I went in case I ran into festival committee members. My biggest prayer was to give a copy to Michael Moore personally. I had heard he was fairly accessible to the public. I was able to give out six copies of my book to committee members of the Traverse City Film Festival, including Michael Moore’s assistant, Jason, and one of the co-founders, local photographer John Robert Williams. One committee member said she’d introduce me personally to Michael Moore, but at the event where I had hoped to do this, he ran off as soon as he was done speaking. The only time I forgot to take my book with me was when he came and introduced a film I attended. Afterwards, he was sitting alone at a chair near the front. I approached him and thanked him for the film festival, but all I could offer him was a handshake. Drat! Thankfully, I have a Christian friend on the TC Film festival committee and he said, “After the film festival, give me the books you couldn’t deliver and I’ll make sure they get in the hands of the other committee members at one of our follow up meetings.� So, I did and I still pray that Michael Moore gets his book. (Incidentally, I know he has read Christian books before because he bought one from a friend and fellow Christian author at one of her book signings.)
Now, the other half of my objective was getting books to the members of the Traverse Bay Freedom Filmfest planning committee. I came waltzing into the door of the venue where they were having their event and the first thing that happens to me is that a security member is checking out my book bag. He asked me to open it up. I obliged and actually, I’m quite thankful, anywhere, these days, to have good security at events that draw crowds. I mention this fact, however, because I never once had my bag checked at the Traverse City Film Festival, even at events where Michael Moore attended. Foolish? Perhaps, given his controversial nature, but also slightly refreshing, a momentary throwback reminder to the days when people could gather without a threat of getting blown-up by some lunatic. Even so, I was able to get my book to Genie Aldrich, and other members of her team. And, they were very thankful. Number two mission - accomplished!
Now, all I had to do was keep trying to find Michael Moore and track his words and behaviors. As a conservative who follows conservative media, I know full well what they think of Michael Moore. I agree with them, politically. I think he has done a terrible disservice to this country by lying and distorting the truth in his movies. To this, I hold him accountable. In the future, if he lies or distorts the truth in his movies, I’ll expose it and condemn it. But I wondered if his private, hometown persona differed from his media image. I wanted to discover the “real� Michael Moore versus the “reel� Michael Moore.
Knowing I couldn’t accurately summarize him in a few brief encounters, I nevertheless wanted to see if 1) he lies at all in public, 2) slams Bush or Republicans in public, 3) says anything “religious� or otherwise revealing his “worldview,� and 4) see how he treats his fellow men both media giants and common. I thought I had heard him lie when he spoke at a free forum in public. Moore said, that the volunteers could see movies for free. Right away, I thought, “That’s a lie.� Because my friend on the film festival committee said that even he couldn’t get in free to the movies. But after checking it out, I found out volunteers could see movies for free, if they got their work done first. So, I repented for my prejudice. As far as I know, nothing else he said as a factual statement turned out to be untrue.
When he claimed that the films in the TC Film Festival were “just good films,� I wanted to see what his definition of good films were. If good means, thoughtful, intelligent, artistic, and not the standard dumbed-down Hollywood fare, than yes, his movies are “good.� I found most of them entertaining and challenging. But, some of the documentaries shown included subtle jabs at conservative politics. ENRON: THE SMARTEST GUYS IN THE ROOM blamed Republicans for deregulation of big business and tried to tie a character link with Bush with Ken Lay, the fallen leader of ENRON. CZECH DREAM took stabs at Western consumerism and commercialism (not all bad if you ask me.) Other films like MY SUMMER OF LOVE directly made fun of Christians and it depicted lesbian sex too. Otherwise, many other films also included non-Christian worldviews. To their credit, the TC Film Festival did show the moral worldview movie ITALIAN FOR BEGINNERS, LES MISERABLES and the moral MAD HOT BALLROOM.
Michael Moore did speak at an open to the public forum called “The Traverse City Film Festival. Is it political? Traverse City wants to know.� Early in the talk, Michael Moore said the “F-word� (then apologized), and he went on to say that he, himself, has added to public/media perception of who this Michael Moore is. He then blamed the Left for putting politics before art in their movies. (I immediately thought, “OK? And your films lead with art?) He continued and thanked local Republican congressman Kevin Elsenheimer for writing a letter and endorsing the film festival. He said, “We will be judged by how we treat the poor. The Bible speaks prominently about two things. First, it talks about redemption. Second, it talks about doing good for the poor.� Personally, I was surprised he mentioned the Bible positively.
He then quoted Christ. Remember my letter to the editor? Michael Moore said he was reading the letters to the editor to gauge public perception of the film festival. He echoed what I told him in my letter to the editor by saying to the crowd, “Jesus said, ‘Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you.’� Now, mind you, Michael Moore was talking to mostly libs about how they should treat conservatives, but to use Biblical, gracious language seemed out of character for him. Perhaps God is trying to reach him? Finally, Michael Moore said, “God bless the Traverse Bay Freedom Filmfest people. I welcome their entry into the public debate about what’s good for America.� Again, I was pleasantly surprised by Michael Moore and even asked myself, “Is this the same man who sarcastically ripped on President Bush?�
One final note to Michael Moore’s character. He ran an event called “Mike’s Surprise� where he was going to show a mystery film. Everybody thought he was going to show a rough cut of one of his new films in progress. He got up before the crowd and said “I promised the city council I wouldn’t show any of my films in the film festival, and I won’t this year.� (Note the words, “this year.� Many fear this will become a Michael Moore film fest in years to come, instead of the Traverse City Film Fest.� Moore continued, “In honor of the Traverse Bay Freedom Filmfest and what they are doing over there, I offer you Mike’s Surprise, one of my favorite films of all time, Monty Python’s THE LIFE OF BRIAN.� This movie angered many Christians when it was released for telling the story of a crucified, false messiah in the time of Christ. All this to say, God still has lots of work to do on Michael Moore.
So what are we to do? The TC Film Festival looks poised to be a permanent fixture in Traverse City for many years to come. I repeat what I said in my letter to the editor. We should continue to pray for Michael Moore and the TC Film Festival Committee members. We should analyze and do fair reviews on the films they will show. We do hold discussion groups and bring Christian perspectives to these films. We can organize outreach opportunities to the community because when tens of thousands are gathering anywhere, it means to me, opportunities for service to many people. Furthermore and finally, I applaud the Traverse Bay Freedom Filmfest for sticking up for truth and America. It was a very courageous thing to hold their event at the same time as Michael Moore’s. My only prayer is that as lies are exposed and truth is told, it would be done in a spirit of love. Jesus loves Genie Aldrich, but Jesus also loves Michael Moore and it looks as if Michael is opening his Bible more these days. Let’s not give him an excuse to close it shut.
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