This Divided State
Studio: Minority Films
Rated: NOT RATED
Website: http://www.thisdividedstate.com/
Release Date: 2005-09-08
Cast: Kay Anderson, Michael Moore, Sean Hannity, Joe Vogel, Jim Bassi
Director: Steven Greenstreet
WorkNameSort: This Divided State
Our Rating: 2.00
In the fall of 2004, Michael Moore was invited to speak at Utah Valley State College in Orem, Utah. The booking incurred predictable controversy in that geographic bastion of conservatism, pitting First-Amendment advocates against self-styled defenders of old- fashioned community values, who wanted the speech canceled and its organizers punished. It was a flash point in the modern culture wars, argues documentarian Steven Greenstreet in This Divided State.
The problem is that Greenstreet apparently had no idea what kind of movie he wanted to make. A good deal of State is straightforward but sloppy cinematic journalism, recording the comments of impassioned parties on both sides of the issue and pretending to be objective even while someone (Greenstreet?) is heard from behind the camera espousing pro-Moore perspectives. Yet far more egregious is a wannabe-whimsical interlude in which Greenstreet interviews the counter man at a local restaurant (coincidentally named “Moore Pizza”) and solicits the opinions of costumed geeks on line for a Star Wars DVD release party. These lunges at political vaudeville fall miserably short, proving that nobody but Michael Moore should try to be Michael Moore.
With few exceptions, Greenstreet uncovers a passel of familiar character types. There’s the hunky student neocon whose public opposition to Moore’s visit may one day land him a job as a White House intern or some other form of GOP butt boy. And weedy liberal larvae drone on about the college experience requiring exposure to different viewpoints. The only real shock comes when a grandstanding Sean Hannity arrives to steal Moore’s thunder with an on-campus tirade of his own. Until I had heard the relentless name-calling that is Hannity’s in-concert schtick, I had no concrete understanding of how low our national discourse has sunk. But you can learn that lesson for free by watching Fox News, if you’re masochistic enough.
This article appears in Sep 7-13, 2005.