Review of Captain Mike Across America

Michael Moore and Captain Mike Across America

When Michael Moore’s last film, Sicko, was released in the summer of 2007, the consensus seemed to be that it was the pop-documentarian’s most accomplished work to date. Critics pointed to Moore’s relative absence from the film—he first appears on camera 45 minutes into running time—and this withdraw from the forefront of his narratives can be seen as part of his evolution as a filmmaker. Whereas Roger & Me (1989) and parts of Bowling For Columbine (2002) succeed on the audacity of Moore’s working-class brashness, it was with Fahrenheit 9/11 (2004) that he shifted his focus. The parable of David and Goliath can still be seen at the core of all Moore’s films, but it was in Fahrenheit that the horizon was broadened from class conflicts within the U.S. and reapplied to the relationship between Americans and their government, between America and the world at large. The success of Sicko with critics and audiences alike in response to the film’s maturity should have been no surprise then; the film only had to build off of the changes in Moore’s filmmaking that Fahrenheit introduced. But it’s this ascent in the director’s scope and capabilities as a director that puts into question how Moore’s latest film, Captain Mike Across America, will be received. Captain Mike Across America chronicles Moore’s tour one month prior to the 2004 elections. Calling it the “Slacker Uprising Tour”, the filmmaker visited the swing states in an effort to encourage unregistered voters to make a difference. Over the course of the tour (and in turn, the film) various celebrities make appearances and Moore’s gets involved in the sort of antics that his detractors love to hate. For example, Moore hands out free ramen soup and clean underwear to encourage college students to register to vote; the Republicans accuse Moore of buying votes. And the tour keeps on a-rollin’ on into the next state. Simply put, Captain Mike Across America is the anti-Sicko, displaying everything about Moore’s filmmaking that seemed absent from the latter film. While in Sicko the director stayed out of frame, in Captain Mike he is rarely anything but. Similarly, an underrated quality in Moore’s filmmaking is not only his use of well-chosen pop music, but the well-placed silence that counters those aural flourishes; conversely, Captain Mike is almost all music, all the time. Not only that, the selections are all familiar. If you like R.E.M. (last heard in Farenheit) and Cat Stevens (Sicko), then you’ll no doubt enjoy the soundtrack here as well. And that’s the unfortunate realization that comes by the end of the film: there’s very little to be gleaned from Moore’s crusade to evict George W. Bush from the White House. We’re all aware how little the vote was rocked— in this case, commiserating the affair just seems redundant. However, another documentary examining Ohio’s role in the 2004 elections, …So Goes The Nation, delivers insight into how the election was played by both Democrats and Republicans. And while that film delves deeply into the nuances of modern political spin, Captain Mike Across America is the film equivalent of swapping stories about your college days. It may be billed as a ‘concert film’, but instead feels more like a b-sides compilation that sits separate from Moore’s otherwise captivating trajectory as a filmmaker.

Posted on 09/09/07 by: calmac 05:56 PM