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Reviews
Manufacturing Dissent (2007)
A bit lopsided view of Moore
I don't believe everything I see in Michael Moore films, I just think he gets the big picture right and gets a little bit "lost" on some of the details.
This documentary seems to first take a similar tack, by exposing some of the details he's fudged/manipulated/twisted while still showing him getting the big picture right and doing his stuff for a good purpose.
Then, slowly but surely, the film begins to turn from things that are established truths about MM into more sinister looking film which demonifies MM (while still occasionally showing people praising him).
I have not done the research, so I can't say which of the things they say about MM are true and which are not. But I dislike the way the documentary works, first "gaining your trust" by "praising" Moore, then using that trust to push something on you that you wouldn't easily believe if it came out of the blue. Seems more like the conspiracy films that circle the internet.. "If you believe this one detail is wrong on the 9/11 report, then you'll believe it was the UFOs that destroyed the WTC".
Strictly speaking, both methods are wrong when making a documentary: Getting the big picture right and the details wrong, or getting the details right but the big picture wrong.
That said, I have to confess I like Moore films because he makes them entertaining enough to be seen by a wide audience (I can't discuss most of the docus I see with anyone because nobody watches them). And if he gets a few details wrong (intentionally or otherwise), he's at least doing it for a good cause, unlike a lot of people who try to discredit him.
Facing the Giants (2006)
Christian propaganda film
Make no mistake about it, if you watch this film you are just paying for watching propaganda.
It's not your regular American family film with a few references to god and Jesus to bring in the Christian viewers, it's an all out preaching session that starts sneakily but soon penetrates the entire movie with more and more unrealistic scenes.
This movie is rated high clearly because Christian "lobby" casts political votes with the 10/10 rating (by unweighted voting demographics, this movie is supposedly better than Citizen Kane, Godfather and Star Wars put together). I gave it a 3/10. The two extra points above the mandatory came from the few moments of actual "movie" in this piece of trash.
Be warned though, unless you are into the whole Christian mythology thing, this movie will have you puking at around the 55 minute mark, it's so disgustingly "sweet".
However, if you ARE into Christian mythology (the American flavor), you will find this a mediocre film of overcoming obstacles by placing your faith in god and all that. The action scenes are not that good and the plot is fairly standardized. You're better off buying a DVD of Little House of the Prairie.
The Blood of Heroes (1989)
A forgotten masterpiece
"The juggers are coming!" is a shout that strikes both fear and excitement into the hearts of the villagers. These wretched people, living in the Mad Maxesque world of post-nuclear devastation will now have to defend the honor of their village by playing against a wandering band of Juggers.
This game is the centerpoint of the movie. It's a brutal match of American football and medieval warfare. Both teams will try to get a dog skull on a stake at the opposite ends of a small playing field. Only problem is that only a small, lightly padded player (the Qwik) can touch the skull, and all other players are armed with clubs, chains, mallets and bad attitudes.
Needless to say, the game can get brutal, broken bones and gouged eyes are common enough. But once the game is over, the real insights into the world this movie creates are made. There is no brutal rivalry outside the playing field, only a camaraderie that can stem from knowing what you both have been through. The winners are treated to a feast, no matter how poor the village, for the player's blood has brough some exitement into their otherwise dreary and hopeless lives.
I will not spoil the plot here, but needless to say, the young elements of the wandering band of Juggers, which is led by Sallow (Rutger Hauer), will not long be content to fight in backwater villages for little money and poor entertainment (a village of starving peasants can only provide so much).
On the technical side, this is not a brilliant movie, clearly made on a low budget, most of which was probably spent on actors. But movie itself is a great masterpiece, showing more and more of the "world" in which the Juggers live with every time you watch it. Small things will speak volumes and prove true the old saying: A picture speaks more than a thousand words.
Also the action scenes, while they do not contain the speedy cars and flashy wrecks of Mad Max, are still full of adrenalin and will leave thinking about why the game of Jugging is not played already.