Documentaries are often associated with authority figures and experts doling out facts, with the spotlight firmly fixed on the subject in question.
Think Sir David Attenborough in his natural history programmes or Errol Morris’ The Fog Of War: Eleven Lessons From The Life Of Robert S McNamara (2003), which looks at the life of the former United States Secretary of Defense.
More recently, another kind of documentary has emerged, one in which the film-maker is front and centre.
Michael Moore and Morgan Spurlock are the two names that spearhead this sub-genre of documentary films.
In his first feature-length work, Roger & Me (1989), Moore took General Motors to task for relocating its factories from Flint, Michigan, to Mexico, causing many Americans to be jobless.
His approach was unconventional and one that was very personal, since he had grown up in Flint.
There was a lot of anger over GM’s actions, both from former employees and from Moore himself.
It set the template for his subsequent films in which he thrust himself into the middle of the action, whether he is trying to get politicians to answer awkward questions in Fahrenheit 9/11 (2004) or getting a free gun for opening a bank account in Bowling For Columbine (2002).
Spurlock upped the stakes in Super Size Me (2004), in which he subjected himself to an experiment of eating only McDonald’s meals for 30 days.
This approach has reaped rewards at the box office.
Fahrenheit 9/11, about former president George W. Bush’s war on terrorism, is the highestgrossing documentary of all time with over US$222 million in worldwide grosses.
It also won the Cannes Film Festival’s prestigious Palme d’Or.
Super Size Me earned over US$20 million worldwide and was nominated for an Oscar for Best Documentary.
The me-me-me movies resonate with audiences, and some critics, as they give viewers someone to identify with in grappling with abstract issues of gun-control, war or even unhealthy diets.
But brickbats have been hurled at Spurlock and Moore along with the bouquets.
Moore, in particular, has been criticised for his showy, biased approach and for distorting the truth to suit his agenda.
Film-maker Michael Wilson even made an entire movie about the objections called Michael Moore Hates America (2004).
For example, he charges that Moore misrepresented the truth in the free-gunwith-bank-account incident by arranging for a gun to be delivered to the bank ahead of time.
That Moore dresses up the truth to dramatise it is troubling and distracting. It is not shocking enough that a bank was giving away guns?
The accusation, however, that a documentary is necessarily tainted the more the film-maker inserts himself into it does not hold water.
When the label of documentary is applied to a film, there is an expectation of absolute objectiveness that is simply unrealistic.
Every documentary, no matter how fairly approached, has a point of view.
Hiding the film-maker behind voiceovers and keeping him out of sight can, in fact, be a sneaky way of presenting what is seen on screen as the authoritative and undisputed truth.
Ironically, it is probably more transparent to have the film-maker expose his own biases.
The topics they delve into also persuades me of the worth of what Moore and Spurlock are doing.
They are often up against Goliaths, be they multinational corporations, powerful industries or even entire governments.
These self-styled gadflies prick and sting with their persistent and pesky questioning, and if that gives the behemoths any kind of pause in their actions, and everyone else food for thought on how his world is shaped by bigger forces, then I say: Bring those documentaries on.
Roger & Me (1989)
What: General Motors’ decision to close its plants in Flint, Michigan, devastated the city economically and socially. Michael Moore tries to pin down GM’s then chairman Roger B. Smith for an interview and finally confronts the man as he is giving his annual Christmas message to the company.
Bowling For Columbine (2002)
What: In the wake of the Columbine High School shooting tragedy, Moore examines the culture of guns and violence in the US in this Oscar winner for Best Documentary Feature. He includes footage of actor Charlton Heston holding a musket and declaring at a National Rifle Association meeting: “I have only five words for you: From my cold dead hands.”
Fahrenheit 9/11 (2004)
What: This highest-grossing documentary of all time by Moore took issue with the media coverage of the War on Terror as well as the mishandling and misrepresentation of the Iraq War by former president George W. Bush’s administration.
Super Size Me (2004)
What: In his 30-day McDonald’s-only experiment, Morgan Spurlock ate the equivalent of what most nutritionists say is an ordinary person’s average intake of fast food in eight years.
Where In The World Is Osama Bin Laden? (2008)
What: Spurlock conducts interviews in the Middle East on the subjects of Al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden and Islamic fundamentalism.
He even goes around asking people in the street where Osama is at a time when the US had yet to take him out.
The birth of Spurlock’s son Laken is depicted here and the film is dedicated to him.
This is Spurlock’s exploration of the fight against terrorism, juxtaposed against his own fears of the kind of world his son is being born into.
(ST)