Michael Moore tells Penn State University students to stop smoking crack and vote Y'ALL!!

Cast: Michael Moore, Tom Morello, Viggo Mortensen, Peter Buck (as themselves)
Director: Michael Moore
Screenwriter: Michael Moore

Michael Moore, Oscar-winning director of Fahrenheit 911 and scourge of the Republican Party, is back with Slacker Uprising, a documentary of his American tour encouraging the ‘slacker’ generation of students to vote Democrat ahead of the 2004 presidential elections.

We know now, of course, that Moore’s mission didn’t succeed. But that doesn’t detract from the point of his film. Barack Obama’s recent election gives it an uplifting and celebratory tone, but the film is really about the right to vote, and about the responsibility of the media to keep the public informed, without which there can be no democracy. And, this being Michael Moore, it goes without saying that there is plenty of Bush-bashing, including some hilarious mock Vote Bush adverts that may just be the highlight of the entire film.

Slacker Uprising is not the usual Moore movie. It does not feature his sardonic voiceover or controversial interviews. It is simply footage from his tour across 62 cities in which he and special guests including Viggo Mortensen, Roseanne Barr and R.E.M. rally the young voters of the United States. Moore’s overt editorial voice is limited to some (often amusing) title cards, but his influence is clear across the whole film, especially in a montage of Republican supporters, edited to make them as inarticulate and ill-informed as possible.

Moore has been accused of being a propagandist, and when a journalist makes that very point Moore expertly avoids the question by turning the accusation back on the journalists themselves. It’s one of the few moments where he comes dangerously close to undermining his own message, as he does in the many scenes of him soaking up applause. Slacker Uprising, or Captain Mike Across America as it is known in the States, is sometimes uncomfortably egocentric.

As such the film is at its best when commending the work of ordinary people: the students who risked huge backlash to offer Moore a venue, and the soldier who is almost moved to tears when he receives a standing ovation. These stories of front-line democracy highlight Moore’s central point more eloquently than any amount of his intelligent oratory could. A real documentarian knows when to let his footage do the talking.

But Moore is known for his motor-mouth, and so we’re in familiar territory when he turns on a group of Bible-spewing Republicans and asks “what would Jesus bomb?� Yes, Moore is a propagandist, and yes his films are heavily biased and edited, but with comebacks as quick and funny as that you can forgive him his less attractive qualities.

This isn’t a documentary so much as a tour DVD, and if you are not a fan of Moore’s previous films then it is fair to say you won’t much like his ego-trip across America. But for any passionate Democrats or admirers of a well-argued point Slacker Uprising is a must-have. It does raise one question though: now that the Democrats are in power, what on earth will Moore make films about?

Slacker Uprising is out now on DVD via Optimum Releasing

By Abigail Chandler