Student newspaper article on Moore/Hara event

[Mark Nornes]

Michael Moore sounds off in A2
By Amina Farha, For the Daily
5/14/07

Documentary filmmaker Michael Moore is no stranger to political hell- 
raising. Now, the man behind "Fahrenheit 911" and "Bowling for  
Colombine" hopes his latest production "Sicko" will get Americans  
heated about the state of healthcare nationwide.

"I want people leaving the theater asking, 'Where are the torches?'"  
he said at the Michigan Theater Saturday night.

Moore participated in "X-treme Private Documentary: Kazuo Hara and  
Michael Moore," an event sponsored by the University's Center for  
Japanese Studies and featured a conversation between Moore and  
Japanese filmmaker Hara.

The line of audience members waiting for the theater to open its  
doors for the event extended to the end of the block and consisted  
mostly of middle-aged people. The event appeared to attract few  
students.

Mark West, the director of Academic Program for the Center for  
Japanese Studies, said the event was the brainchild of University  
Prof. Mark Nornes, who came up with the idea during a conversation  
with Hara about Moore's interest in Hara's work.

West said Moore came to the event "despite being in the throes of  
editing for 'Sicko.' "

Moore said he first became acquainted with Hara's work while editing  
his first documentary, "Roger & Me."

While taking a break from editing the documentary about General  
Motors and its CEO Roger Smith, Moore attended a screening of Hara's,  
"The Emperor's Naked Army Marches On" at the American Film Institute  
at the Kennedy Center.

"I was just riveted," Moore said. "It was like I had this soul  
brother in Japan."

Moore said after watching Hara's film, he felt that he could make  
"Roger & Me" without worrying that its style would be criticized for  
not being that of a traditional documentary.

"Who gives anyone the right to say this is not a documentary? It's  
the same as the one in third grade who said this is not a poem," said  
Moore. "They're the same people who have been on you since you were  
nine or 10 and told you this is how you construct a poem or this is  
how you construct a story or this is how you paint the sky blue."

Hara's style of documentary is "the kind of film that makes activists  
act," said Nornes. [Actually, I said very nearly the opposite! ?Markus]

He referred to Hara's film "Goodbye CP," which put a spotlight on the  
victims of cerebral palsy and other physical handicaps, people who  
are generally kept hidden in Japan.

Hara, who used a translator throughout the event, said he does not  
follow predetermined steps in making a film because documentaries  
take shape during the actual filming and the experiences he has  
during the process.

Moore said his filmmaking process often takes a similar course  
because the question he focuses on at the beginning of filming often  
changes during the production.

He said when he started filming "Bowling for Columbine," a 2002  
documentary about the 1999 Columbine High School shootings and their  
place within America's gun culture, he felt that there needed to be  
stronger gun control laws in the United States.

During a visit to Canada Moore said he learned that Canadians own  
more guns per capita than Americans, but have lower gun violence  
rates. He then changed his focus in order to investigate the reasons  
for this discrepancy, he said.

Hara said when he makes a documentary, he does it to find answers to  
questions he has about his identity more than for social justice.

Moore's documentaries have been seen as appealing only to the  
political left, but he said his new film might not engage the same  
audience.

"If you put politics first in a film, you will end up with a crappy  
movie," Moore said. Moore said "Sicko" would not just be a movie  
about health care because the American public is already aware that  
their health-care system can be improved.

Although Moore was reluctant to give away too many details about  
"Sicko," he said he has taken a new approach to filmmaking this time.

He said he wants to present the film's subject separate from the  
political dispute already surrounding the issue of healthcare.

"It would be great if this movie would ignite something through its  
art and not its politics," he said.


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