| Amazon.com Reviews
for "The Big One" (see
more here) Amazon.com
A brazen mixture of stand-up comedy, political commentary, CEO confrontations, and
shenanigans with Random House tour escorts, Michael Moore's second foray into dark
docucomedy after Roger and Me follows his Midwest book tour to promote Downsize This. One
of his Milwaukee tour escorts explains that medium-sized cities in the Midwest tend not to
attract tours by the self-important celebrities of the Coasts; instead, they attract
"more thoughtful authors like Michael." His kind of thoughtfulness evokes both
laughter at, and disgust with, corporate America. To be sure, there is a certain naiveté
in Moore's proworker take on corporate and political America--his half-serious plan for a
Nike shoe factory in Flint, Michigan, makes as much business sense as coal mining on
Maui--but he gives voice to well-reasoned arguments that have most easily gotten lost amid
the Clinton-era boom's corporate downsizing and reliance on "temporary"
employees. In cities like Des Moines, Minneapolis, St. Louis, and Portland, The Big One
juxtaposes both Moore's lighthearted-sounding but deeply biting humor speaking before
bookstore patrons and painful-to-watch confrontations with security personnel at companies
such as Procter & Gamble and PayDay. (For future targets of Moore's style of
journalism, take note of Nike CEO Phil Knight's fairly effective approach as Moore calls
him to task on Nike's Indonesian labor.) Moore speaks clandestinely with Borders employees
organizing a union; a woman laid off from Ford attends Moore's Rockford, Illinois,
bookstore visit the same day. Though slow in spots, frustrating if not depressing in
others, it's intensely funny the rest of the time. The Big One is fundamental viewing.
--Erik Macki
Product Description
Michael Moore on a book tour of his book \""Downsize this\"" which
criticizes American corporate behavior.
Genre: Documentary
Rating: PG13
Release Date: 28-SEP-2004
Media Type: DVD
Like Moore's earlier film "Roger and Me", "The Big One" (Moore's
tongue-in-cheek term for the large, all-encompassing corporate bohemoth that this country
may eventually become) takes a disturbing yet often comical look at how Big Business is
running roughshod over whatever is left of Corporate Responsibility in this country.
This film is alternatingly funny and deeply depressing. Mainly, however, you want to shake
Moore's hand for having the chutzpah to shove a microphone and camera in Corporate
America's faces and demand they explain their "outsourcing" actions directly to
the faithful and long-term employees (generations of them, in some cases) who were
unceremoniously dumped in favor of cheaper overseas or over-the-border labor.
These large corporations are selling America off piece by piece, in a way. They are
giddily happy to lay off American workers by the thousands to make a few extra bucks, line
their pockets a bit more, or hasten their Golden Parachute paydays.
Sure, a primary function of a business is to make money. But when doing so to such excess
involves actions that could undermine America's already fragile socio-economic fabric on a
relatively grand scale, then it becomes an issue of Conscience. Moore, like many of us,
realizes this. Moore rushes up to the Corporate Big Dogs (or at least the highest-ranking
ones he can find or the nearest media outlet he can find) and asks the questions we wish
we could ask -- he expresses the common-man outrage we wish we could express. We all have
motive, but Moore has motive AND opportunity.
Few of his theatrics will actually result in actual change, but perhaps they serve a
higher purpose: to get us to wake up and realize that all is not well in America, that Big
Business is making DAMN sure that the economic chasms between the haves and the have-nots
will continue to expand, and that YOUR JOB IS NEVER, EVER GOING TO BE SAFE. The days of
working for the same company from college 'til the day you retire are all but over. Your
job can be taken away from you AT ANY TIME as soon as the powers-that-be at XYZ
Corporation figure out that it can be economically profitable to throw your entire town
out of work.
And the attendant problems that go with massive layoffs: increases in crime, suicides,
etc.... Well, sorry! You should have gone to Harvard Business School, got an MBA or
something, and snagged one of those rare, hard-to-get jobs where you just show up, meet
with your Accounting, Finance, and Legal Departments, and start divvying up the pie you
are about to share.
Enron, Worldcom, Pillsbury, Nike...... they aren't unique in their business practices.
They are just the higher-profile ones we have all heard about. This kind of "morally
and socially questionable" business practice happens everywhere.
Your company may be next. How much do you have in savings right now? You'd better check.
And be afraid. Be very afraid.
i thoroughly enjoyed this documentary. i believe it is my first, so i didn't know what to
expect going into it. michael moore, hands down, is a genius. not only in the literally
sense, which quite honestly, he is, but also in his direction and style of directing to
keep an audience. i was absolutely enthralled. i loved how he so easily mixed in humor
with the serious subject of corporate downsizing. this documentary could have bored me to
death, with in depth interviews that had no depth. enter michael moore, who adds in his
humor, his satirical voice, as a guiding light in his effort to find out the truths to the
reason why major companies, posting hefty profits, decide to lay off workers or ship
production off to some foreign country. moore has a gift. he has the gift to make
extremely hilarious documentaries, that in turn, help to shed some light on important
issues. the way he can pose questions to bigwigs of large corportations that leave them
completely speechless, you can't script that. you cant script that at all. he knows the
questions that will leave bigwigs stunned and is not afraid to pound away at asking them.
so thank you to moore, for creating a documentary that is both entertaining and
informational. i felt i learned more from "the big one" than i have learned in a
few weeks worth of school.
Michael Moore should be in the presidential cabinet. I don't care as what. Invent a
position for him. First of all, he's funnier than...well, than a lot of people. Moore has
a way of finding fault with some accepted part of the status quo and pointing it out in a
way that one wonders why they didn't realize that it was ridiculous a long time ago.
"The Big One" is hilarious, but it's a pointedly persuasive movie, too. An
example: Moore recently (this is as of May 2000) became the campaign strategist for
several Ficus plants running for office against incumbent and unopposed candidates. Moore
says that the plants will do a far better job than the candidates who have been entering
congress by default, and it doesn't need all the money that the candidates get, anyway. It
does need, though, a little fertilizer, which according to Moore, it "should find
plenty of in Washington." And of particular note is the segment on the video of Steve
Forbes...just watch for it. Buy this movie! |
