Slacker Uprising

Michael Moore traipses across the battleground States to visit 60 cities before the 2004 election and passes out Ramen noodles and clean underwear to slackers who will promise to register and vote.

This film about his journey is just as relevant as it was four years ago. This year's election will also turn on getting the slackers out from behind their X-Boxes and get them to vote.

A combination of speeches, great music, film clips, interviews with regular folks, this was a film for all those who want their country back.

It's yours to watch for free at http://slackeruprising.com/

Firstly, this is a film that is really about more than just raising awareness of the need to vote.

It comes across as a film about the right to protest, the right to object, the right to meet, and the right to live in a democracy.

Whatever your political persuasion a good society needs its Michael Moore's, he's a voice of conscience, a voice that says what needs to be said when no-one else will do. He is doing what MLK and Bob Dylan did in the 1960s, what Democrates did in the Agora in Ancient Greece... Michael Moore is the voice of the underdog for a new generation - who genuinely cares that the excluded, the poor, the workers, and the unemployed are Americans too.

Even if you hate MM, and really disagree with everything he's ever made, you should still agree that his films are a voice that is allowed to be heard.

The documentary itself is without a doubt good propaganda for the Democratic vote, but it also pretty good entertainment - it is very funny, and very, very poignant in places...

....And the students love him.

Pretty stirring in places, with some good live music thrown in, MM is an excellent orator - let's just hope he never becomes a politician - even though he's got the chops for it - because he is the living proof that to hope is to be an American. And that one person can by getting off his or her slacker behind remind us what is means to care for We, the People rather than just Me...

Definitely worth the free download...

I voted against Bush in 2004, but the film was actually pretty boring and didn't bring anything new to the table. He had promised he'd throw his next documentary online, maybe he threw out this stuff because he didn't want to skimp out on the earning potential of an actual decent documentary he's making.

I had thought he was making a documentary showing all the things corporations have been getting away with in the last four years, but actually it's about Michael Moore's tours around the country for the 2004 elections. Literally it's just footage of his speeches to different universities and local press conferences when he toured several cities in swing states. Moore didn't present anything new we hadn't been hearing for the last 8 years and he said absolutely nothing about the 2008 candidates.

The format of the video was depressing. Moore says bring back the troops, kick out bush for a while to a cheering audience, it shows a random musical guest or celebrity then it shows a news caster talking about what the polls show to give a little time effect. While there's nothing particularly wrong with format, that's all there is to this film, it just repeats over and over as he tours different cities.

What the heck just happened? The blip.TV embed does not allow seeking so I couldn't just skip to the end to see if he had something more aggressive or interesting up his sleeve. Moore is know for stirring up controversy and attacking what he feels are the "bad guys" straight-on. There was no face-to-face talks and interviews, only speeches to loving supporters and in a few instances, quips to the opposition that also showed up. He should have made a real documentary or at least critical review of the 2008 candidates, the slacker uprising could have been a DVD extra at best. Edited footage of him as super hero almost changing the tide in the swing states will only gain support from the hardcore Michael Moore fans. Moore brags in the film about how 30 - 40% of republicans that watched Fahrenheit 911 ended up liking it. The same cannot be said for this film. There is no investigative journalism like his previous documentaries. It's Moore talking to his supporters and registered democrats in addition to having the benefit of editing his "best of" moments.

Republicans that watch it will only get annoyed. The film starts by saying Kerry was in the lead until the Bush admin ran an unfair smear campaign on Kerry. Kerry did nothing and his popularity dropped among veterans. Moore countered this pretty well in the movie, but he didn't counter the footage of Kerry saying he would have voted for the war even if he knew the intelligence was false at the time. A few moments in the film would drive zealous republicans crazy like: allowing a guest to sing the Finland national anthem to a confused crowd that wasn't properly told why, his comments on immigration, some of Roseanne's over the top jokes, and finally Moore insanely accepted, I believe it was, a bronze star that belonged to the grand father of one of the people in an event. Literally a guy went up and offered a family war metal from a deceased relative. I cringed as Moore seem to give as little humility to it as someone offering to pay for his dinner, "Really are you sure? Wow thanks." It's a waste. People fight to defend their country but more so to defend their family. You just can't take something so personal to someone's family history when its completely meaningless to yours. Democrats who watch this movie will get bored, since it's the same rhetoric we've already heard. Go watch several of Obama's speeches or check his website instead of watching this movie. Republicans who watch it will get annoyed and have more to complain about, further outlining the divisions between the parties that we should instead work to break.

This film is told in montage about Michael Moore's failed attempt to rally voters, mostly young college-aged voters, who he calls "slackers", who haven't participated in past Presidential elections to come out and vote for John Kerry in the 2004 election. It is framed this way in the very opening of the film, thus setting it as a time capsule at a, arguably, turbulent time in America.

But due to this being first released in September 2007, in Canada, makes me come to the conclusion that this film provides nothing concerning its subject matter. A few IMDb reviews see this film as helping Obama win in 2008 and could be seen as a rallying call to young voters in future elections. I disagree.

Even though the film was re-released in 2008 in the United States, a little over a month before the '08 election, for free mind you, it doesn't help make the case to "go out and vote". It's so focused on anti-Bush/pro-Democrat that it's hard to make that case.

It also makes it hard to find value in watching it years later. Great documentaries have re-watch value in either the evolution of the subject matter over time or any historical insights that are introduced, explored, or discovered in the film or over time.

I see two ways to make the film better.

First, If you keep the majority of the film together, the whole anti-Bush point of view, then make the case by showing "here is where we were in 2004 after one term under Bush and trying to change the tide. We failed. Now look at where we are now at least halfway through a second term." From here you can frame it to help Obama in 2008 and onward.

Second, If you really want to make the point of the film to just be a rallying call for non-voters and new voters to get out and vote, you have to be apolitical about it and be fair. Don't lean so heavy into the anti-Bush/pro-Democrat angle but do show what America looked like and felt in the lead-up to the '04 election. Especially since the driving force behind the election was the Iraq War.

Any open minded person, whether Democrat or Republican, wouldn't get any worth out of this. Especially the further away we get from that point in time. Even if you are anti-bush, either back then or now, it doesn't make a difference. For me, the decisions Bush made and the war seem justified at the time but in hindsight things should've been different. However, it doesn't necessarily mean Kerry most definitely had to win.

If you have to, find it for free, as it was originally released in the US.

I'm glad this was free to download or made about as cheap as a film from a major filmmaker (and say what you will, like him or hate him, it's your right either way, he is a major filmmaker now in America), because it is a lessor effort. Since I am a Michael Moore fan and admire his "big" movies greatly (Roger & Me, Sicko, Fahrenheit 9/11 and Bowling for Columbine) it was easy for me to decide to want to watch this. But this does also fall, even for fans, into that category akin to The Big One, which was, as this is, a travelogue of Moore going around on a tour to promote something with him as the focus really instead of something else like guns or GM in Flynt. The only little difference is that Moore is on the road to promote voting- for Kerry in 04 of course- and tries his best to rally up support, even in Utah where a businessman pays 25 grand to *not* have him speak at a school- which is, any way you look at it, commendable.

Now, it goes without saying that people hate Michael Moore. And when I mean hate I mean that he has to have at least one bodyguard, or more depending on the city, in the hopefully unlikely event that he could be attacked or shot or whatever. He is such a strong target for the right and even moderates and a handful of liberals that he still remains a potent poster child for spreading lies and propaganda. This can be argued this way and that, but Moore makes a point more than once during his time traveling around and giving the occasional press conference that he is just one guy making films, and the media has/had a responsibility during the lead up to the Iraq war. He is a target, but not one to stand down. It's hard to at least not respect that. And as for the other side, he gives them some screen time in Slacker Uprising: at least 15 minutes of the film shows how many republicans (obviously the majority but with some vocal power) and bible-thumpers came to protest outside and inside during Moore's speeches. He gives them their just do to speak. And also makes sure to offer them military enrollment forms as they are Bush supporters. He may be many things, but Moore's got balls.

So watching some of these ups and downs throughout the 62 city tour, of both the highs of speaking to tens of thousands of people in venues that are swing states, and some of the controversy stirred due to Moore's polarizing nature, are interesting. The only problem really comes with the fact that, stylistically, Moore goes simple for this one. The musical choices, the actual score, is repetitive and doesn't do much to add to the picture, which is a shame since Moore is usually creative and inspired with his choice in music, and only some moments of his brand of "gotcha" humor creeps in. The actual musical performances from guests Eddie Vedder and Tom Morello and Steve Earle are fantastic though, with Roseane Barr and the other musician in Tennessee just OK (Viggo Mortensen is a nice surprise).

It's not any triumph of film-making, wont win any awards, and it certainly shouldn't be paid much for. It's the right choice to offer it up online for free or as cheap as possible on DVD, since those who want it can get it and those who definitely don't can pass on by... unless their curiosity is peaked somehow. It's good for one watch, even for those who want it right away, and then to move on along as it's now four plus years gone anyway. For what it's worth, on its own basic and unpretentious terms, it's not too bad at all.