With 22 television monitors relaying images at once,
More than Moore, a video installation
at Visual Studies Workshop, instills a feeling of sensory saturation, even
though the TV sets are all silent. (Headphones are provided.) VSW Associate
Gallery Director-Acting Gallery Manager Bleu Cease is trying to make
independent political documentaries more accessible to the public. His
installation, the second phase of that effort, screens 55 films — the same
ones Cease brought to public spaces all summer and fall with his Propaganda
Box. (See “Street corner politics,” in the July 28 issue of City.)
Cease saw the furor surrounding Michael Moore’s Farenheit 9/11 as an opportunity to
bring attention to the current groundswell in political independent films.
Though most of the material featured in the project leans to the left, it would
be a mistake to think More than Moore is
predictable.
Cease says part of his aim is to spark dialogue, and
the installation represents a broad enough ideological range to do that. Taken
side by side, the films reveal subtle nuances in the anti-war and anti-Bush movements.
“The agenda,” says Cease, “was not to favor films
that would move people towards the left. I was more concerned with [not] screening to the choir — playing
documentaries for people who already actively pursue documentaries.”
You can’t possibly cover all the films in one
sitting. There’s a temptation to approach the installation like a buffet,
sampling until you get your fill, but you’re better off settling down with one
or two titles. These are intense, emotionally charged films meant to engage —
if not overload — your empathy, agitation, anxiety, or all of the above.
“How do you not get burned out on this type of
stuff?” Cease asks. “How do you not get turned off to the whole idea of
political filmmaking after seeing so many? Media desensitizes no matter what
type of media it is.”
In Independent
Media in a Time of War, documentary director Amy Goodman argues the
opposite. (See an interview with Goodman, “The Sounds of Silence,” in the
October 13 issue of City.) According
to Goodman, if the American public were exposed to the violence of the Iraq war
for a week, the public outcry would be so great that the war would be over
immediately. That may sound idealistic, but Goodman takes a rational,
well-substantiated approach and simply compares the difference between CNN’s
European and American coverage.
“I’m not [even] talking about the difference between
CNN and Al Jazeera,” she says in Independent
Media. CNN Europe regularly depicts the human cost of war, as do many other
networks abroad. “Think about what the world sees and what we see here,” she
says. The film depicts footage of civilian casualties so heinous it will likely
leave you rattled for days to come. And that’s exactly the point.
Howard Zinn, Noam Chomsky, and Robert Greenwald —
relatively well-known voices of dissent — are represented in the
installation, but there’s a wealth of other voices, styles, and topics.
Greenwald’s Uncovered: the Whole Truth
About the War in Iraq and John Pilger’s Palestine
is Still the Issue both follow an almost identically non-stylized format
— a series of straight-ahead, succinct, and easy-to-follow interviews — and
benefit greatly from commentary from more conservative sources.
As an educational device, the installation overflows
with information and context. Historian Zinn, for example, served as an Air
Force bombardier in WWII; his talk about the human cost of war in Terrorism and War resonates with
experience. Ossie Davis and Ruby Dee’s skilled narration brings warmth and
grace to Danny Schecter’s Counting on
Democracy, which tells the little-known story of African-American
voting-rights activism in Florida leading up to the 2000 presidential election.
Aesthetic quality is debatable for nearly all the
films, but most hit their targets: they get you thinking about the subjects
they raise. And if you start to feel like you just can’t take any more, some of
the titles offer laughs. A lesson in economy, Mike Wellins’ two-minute animated
short America Lite uses a
beer-commercial parody to criticize the erosion of the Constitution and Bill of
Rights. Meanwhile, local animator Dave Puls’s more forceful Sharks in the Water uses seemingly
lighthearted, Monty Python-esque multimedia animations that belie a darker
outlook and outraged point.
Other short titles are just easier to process but
pack no less of a punch. Greg Wilcox’s four-minute Fortunate Son exposes Wrangler Jeans’ misappropriation of Creedence
Clearwater Revival’s political tune “Fortunate Son” to foment patriotism and
encourage military enlistment after 9/11 — all while models shake it in tight
jeans. And the image of a clergyman yelling “Tonight, I am angryyy!” in
solidarity with a crowd protesting the anti-gay-marriage amendment in Renee
Solile and Mary Jo Godges’ Texas Bullshit is pretty unforgettable.
The installation closes on Election Day with a
reception including election coverage and live music. After that, Cease hopes
to maintain the films in a permanent public archive at the VSW.
More Than Moore: Reviving the Political Documentary is at the Visual Studies
Workshop, 31 Prince Street, until Tuesday, November 2. Hours: Wednesday through
Sunday, 12 to 5 p.m. Donations. A closing reception for More Than Moore and the Propaganda
Box is on Tuesday, November 2, at VSW, 8 p.m. to 12 a.m. 442-8676,
www.vsw.org
This article appears in Oct 20-26, 2004.
