Moore strikes again> ‘Big One’ targets corporate America, politicians

“The Big One.” A documentary written and directed by Michael Moore. Running time: 96 minutes. Rated PG-13 (for some strong language). Nightly, June 15-18, Railroad Square Cinema, Waterville.

Michael Moore, the corporate-bashing proletarian who butted heads with Roger Smith, president of General Motors, in 1989’s hilarious “Roger and Me,” begins his newest film by waving four canceled checks to a crowd of cheering onlookers.

Each check, written for $100, was sent by Moore in 1996 to four presidential candidates — albeit under the guise of some fictitious committees.

Those committees were: Satan Worshippers for Dole, Abortionists for Buchanan, Pedophiles for Free Trade (for Perot), and Hemp Growers for Clinton. According to Moore, Perot, the conservative billionaire from Texas, was the most appreciative. He sent a formal letter of thanks that began: “Dear Pedophiles: Thank you so much for your support … .”

It is in this spirit that “The Big One” begins, a biting documentary that follows Moore on his 1996, 45-city book tour to promote his best-selling tome, “Downsize This! Random Threats From an Unarmed American.” The book is intentionally mistitled as Moore proves time and again that he is indeed armed — perhaps not with a gun, but absolutely with a brilliant, heat-seeking wit that delights in blowing the hell out of corporate America and politicians like Steve Forbes.

“Have you noticed?” Moore asks those gathered at one of his packed performances. “Steve Forbes is an alien. The man never blinks.”

“Roger and Me” worked partly because, in 1989, the country had hit a speed bump and found itself stuck in a pothole of high unemployment. Then, people were primed to see this lumbering, overweight Robin Hood skewer the suits of corporate America in an effort to help those recently out of work in Flint, Mich.

But now, if one pays any attention to the headlines or to the nightly news, the economy, we are told, is in great shape, the Dow has reached an all-time high and unemployment is at an all-time low. Is Moore’s shtick still relevant? In a word — yes.

According to Moore, things are actually getting worse for blue-collar America in spite of record profits being touted by our largest companies. Why? Because those companies, eager to make even more money, are closing down plants here and opening them in Mexico, where the average worker makes 80 cents an hour.

As he cuts his crude path across the country, Moore stops in Centralia, Ill., home of the PayDay candybar, to find that the plant making the candybar is shutting down after posting a huge profit. In Milwaukee, he surprises local managers at Johnson Controls with a certificate for Downsizer of the Year after the company’s decision to lay off its workers — and rehire others in Mexico.

He lectures at universities, celebrates with the workers of a Borders bookstore when they go union, chats with Studs Terkel about the 60th anniversary of the CIO’s strike against carmakers.

He is unstoppable — or is he?

At Nike headquarters, he finally bags a CEO, Phil Knight, and spars with him about his company’s practice of making shoes in Indonesia, where Indonesian soldiers committed near-genocide in East Timor. Knight, absolutely cool under pressure, levels Moore with a sharply lifted eyebrow. “How many people were killed in the Cultural Revolution?” he asks, to which Moore is rendered, for an instant, curiously silent.

Touche.

Grade: A-

Video of the Week

“Tomorrow Never Dies.” Directed by Roger Spottiswoode. Written by Bruce Feirstein. Running time: 119 minutes. Rated PG-13 (for violence, language and adult content).

Well, yes, of course tomorrow dies — tomorrow always dies. It becomes today then yesterday then, sometimes, a bit of forgotten history if nothing much happens in that tomorrow of yesterday’s past.

Confusing? Convoluted? Good — at times so is “Tomorrow Never Dies,” the second James Bond film to feature Pierce Brosnan as Bond, James Bond, who is, in this film at least, sometimes shaken, stirred, punched and kicked.

Silly titles aside, “Tomorrow Never Dies” is not bad as Bond films go. It’s also not great — especially when compared with “Goldfinger,” “Dr. No,” or “Octopussy.” What it is, is an entertaining two hours of special effects that sometimes startle with their originality, but more often seem canned.

In the film, an international communications mogul (Jonathan Pryce) is so determined to beat his competition to the news that he creates it — specifically, he manufactures a crisis between China and Britain that, naturally, threatens the world. Enter Bond, who eventually teams up with Wai Lin (Michelle Yeoh, a huge star in Hong Kong) in an effort to save the world — which, of course, they do.

Too bad they didn’t do so in a film that could go head-to-head with the best of the Bonds.

Grade: B-

Christopher Smith, a writer and critic who lives in Brewer, reviews films each Monday in the NEWS.