The Awful Truth
Imagine that politics was not just fun, but hilarious. We’re talking Kids in the Hall funny.
Impossible? Not for Michael Moore. His brilliant but short-lived series The Awful Truth is available on video and very much worth renting. Moore, of course, is the quarter-pounder-chomping regular guy who has a knack for making direct action more entertaining than any Hollywood flick and more hard-hitting than any rally.
For instance, he sends Crackers, the corporate-crime-fighting chicken, off to Disney World to confront Mickey Mouse over the sweatshops the company runs; he rents a pink bus dubbed “The Sodommobile” and fills it with men as gay as the wallpaper for a tour of 20 states where sodomy is still illegal; and he teaches a class of Pakistanis and Indians how to “duck and cover” and how to carry out a good old-fashioned cold war now that they both have the bomb.
More than just telling what’s wrong, the show also achieved results. One diabetic, denied a lifesaving pancreas transplant, takes his plight to his HMO, where he passes out invitations to his funeral (“When: Any day now. Why: Because you won’t give me a transplant.”) and then stages a mock funeral on their doorstep, complete with sermon, coffin and hearse. In the end, the company reversed the decision.
Aside from winning an Emmy, the series shows what politics could be: incredibly fun and highly effective. If you want to make someone mad, criticize them; If you want to make them fume, laugh at them.
Have a flick everyone should rent? Email a 200 word write up to [email protected].
