HOLLYWOOD, Calif. (ABP) — They're a pair of docs — documentaries — as puzzling as a paradox.
“America's Heart and Soul,” a feature documentary released by Disney earlier this month, provides a panoramic vision of American diversity by telling the stories of unique individuals coast to coast.
Meanwhile, Michael Moore's “Fahrenheit 9/11” focuses on one dimension of American life, the Bush administration and the war in Iraq.
Ironically, both films have a link with Disney. Known for its live-action features and animation, the company declined distribution of the controversial Moore documentary but surprisingly picked up “America's Heart and Soul.”
The fruit of nationwide travel to find interesting stories, “America's Heart and Soul” by filmmaker Louis Schwartzberg portrays the ethnic and geographic diversity of the United States through a series of personal vignettes. From a recovering-alcoholic Utah cowboy, to a San Francisco minister and a Vermont dairy farmer, Schwartzberg weaves together brief tales of Americans whose ordinary lives would otherwise pass unknown.
But “Heart and Soul” has struggled to find an audience, while “Fahrenheit” has blazed its way into box-office history.
According to Variety.com, “Fahrenheit 9/11” has made almost $87 million in domestic box office sales since its debut June 23, compared to a disappointing $307,468 for “America's Heart and Soul,” opening in limited distribution on about 100 screens the Fourth of July weekend.
In a brief statement confirming its decision not to distribute Moore's film, the Walt Disney Co. offered no reasons for the action. Asked at a pre-release California screening of “America's Heart and Soul” why the company passed on “Fahrenheit 9/11” but agreed to promote “America's Heart and Soul,” a Disney official said the studio's focus was not politics but entertainment, commenting, “Let's leave politics to the newspapers.”
The widely publicized “Fahrenheit 9/11” clearly wears politics on its sleeve.
Moore's latest documentary is largely an “ad hominem” (“against the man”) argument against the actions and policies of President George W. Bush after September 11, 2001. Moore seeks to establish close and disconcerting links between the Bush family's business interests and Saudi Arabia, homeland of Osama bin Laden.
Even before “Fahrenheit” was released, Bush supporters denounced the movie as an unpatriotic attack on the American military and an extended campaign commercial designed to rouse pre-election opposition to the president.
A California-based organization called MoveAmericaForward.com asked viewers to “contact movie theater executives to voice their displeasure toward movie theaters promoting a political advertisement that defames our military, insults our troops and attempts to undermine the public's support for the war on terror.”
While some viewers may debate the validity of Moore's case against Bush, more difficult to dismiss are the images of the Iraq war the movie includes. Juxtaposing the destruction caused by American military might with scenes of pre-war calm in Iraq, “Fahrenheit 9/11” presents views of the conflict not shown by mainstream American media.
For example, the film depicts the terror — from the Iraqi point of view — of a late night house search by coalition forces, a sharp contrast to another clip in which NBC journalist Katie Couric exclaims, “Navy Seals rock.”
Whereas “Fahrenheit” is painful and provocative, Disney's “Heart and Soul,” on the other hand, is pleasant and affirming.
Schwartzberg's “Heart and Soul” is visually striking. The director contrasts John Ford-esque vistas of the American West to the glimmering lights of time-lapse urban scenes. Schwartzberg sends viewers soaring above the Florida coast with a segment on a St. Augustine champion stunt pilot.
With religious audiences among those targeted in the marketing of “America's Heart and Soul,” the movie even got the attention of Southern Baptists, despite the ongoing boycott of the Walt Disney Co. called by the Southern Baptist Convention in 1997.
Wiley Drake, senior pastor of First Southern Baptist Church of Buena Park, Calif., proposed a motion at the South-ern Baptist Convention in June urging the convention to commend the company for what he felt was a positive film.
Calling himself “that mean old guy that went after Mickey Mouse” because of his outspoken role in the boycott, Drake told Associated Baptist Press he felt affirming Disney's decision to back a “good movie” would be an appropriate goodwill gesture for the convention. “If we could find something positive — and we did — we should at least commend them for that.”
Despite some support, Drake's motion was not adopted at this year's SBC meeting.
Craig Detweiler, author of “A Matrix of Meanings: Finding God in Pop Culture,” says that the sudden prominence of feature documentaries may mean American viewing preferences are changing.
Documentaries like “Fahrenheit 9/11” suggest “audiences are ready for something other than escapist Hollywood fantasies,” the author said. “We want a taste of real people, wrestling with real issues, in our increasingly postmodern context,” Detweiler explained.
Professor of mass communication at Biola University near Los Angeles, Detweiler commented that, “As a people of faith, we should embrace the core questions behind reality TV and documentaries: What is real? Whom can I trust? How can I find genuine love and happiness?”
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