THE AISLE SEAT - "THE BIG ONE"

by Mike McGranaghan

Michael Moore is corporate America's worst enemy. Back in 1989, the former magazine writer picked up a movie camera and made the acclaimed documentary Roger & Me (a film I insist those close to me see at least once). In it, he relentlessly dogged General Motors CEO Roger Smith to find out why so many GM factories had been closed in Moore's hometown of Flint, Michigan when the company was making profits in the billions. The result was a stinging indictment of an system in which the interests of the shareholders outweigh the interests of the actual workers.

Moore continued to rail against corporate misconduct in his book "Downsize This!" and on the short-lived but unforgettable show "TV Nation." (A non-fiction comedy movie called Canadian Bacon came in there somewhere, but that's just barely worth mentioning.) Now, the filmmaker is back with The Big One, another assault on injustices against the American worker.

The Big One follows Moore across America as he goes on a book tour for "Downsize This!" In each city, he attends book signings, gives speeches, and visits a local company that is doing something to gain his ire. He rallies with employees from Borders Books who want to unionize. He confronts an executive at the Leaf corporation (makers of Payday candy bars) when they close down a plant for being, essentially, too successful. He gives a representative from Procter & Gamble an award for "Outstanding Achievement in Downsizing" (you should see the look on that PR lady's face!). At another company - which is moving its operations to Mexico where the workers are cheaper - Moore arrives with an oversized check for 80 cents ("to pay the first hour's wages for the first Mexican worker," he explains). Needless to say, none of the people Moore encounters are too happy to see him. Except, of course, for the laid-off workers, who treat him like a king.

The most interesting section of The Big One comes at the end, when Nike CEO Phil Knight agrees to sit down and chat with Moore (apparently, Knight's wife was a fan of "Downsize This!" which named Knight one of America's worst "corporate criminals"). Moore has been outspoken in his criticism of Nike's Indonesian factories, where 14-year-old girls make sneakers for slave wages. Knight answers these charges, and while I won't give away what he says, his remarks give a lot of insight into corporate thinking.

From the beginning of his career as a professional gadfly, Michael Moore has had one message: it's insane for companies to engage in downsizing and other related practices when they are making billions in profit. And he's right. Although my personal politics are not always in line with Moore's (he's as left-wing as they come; I sit squarely in the middle of things politically), he makes an undeniable point. Workers are the backbone of any business; without them, there's no product to sell. They deserve better treatment. Or - to paraphrase one recently downsized worker interviewed in the film - if everyone is either laid off or earning minimum wage, who's going to be able to afford the products the companies are making? If there's no one to make the product, how will the CEOs and stockholders get rich?

One of the great things about Moore is that, while his message is serious, he often uses humor to make his point. Like Roger & Me, The Big One is filled with moments that make you laugh and seethe with righteous anger at the same time. The first film benefited from having a single, personal mission (Moore comes from a long line of GM workers and had a beef with Smith that was both political and personal), but The Big One is a worthy follow-up and companion piece.

Aside from pursuing his political agenda, Moore also has a lot of fun in the movie. He visits Cheap Trick guitarist Rick Neilsen for an impromptu jam (doing a mean Bob Dylan impression along the way), pokes fun at non-blinking political phenomenon Steve Forbes, and pulls a practical joke on one of the escorts hired to shuttle him from appointment to appointment on the tour.

There are a lot of great scenes in The Big One, but my favorite is the interview with one of those escorts that takes place after Moore and crew take an unannounced detour to a local corporation. Alone in the car (with only a second cameraman left outside), she frets over the surprise pit stop and adds, "I really have no idea what they're doing in there." Somehow, I think Michael Moore wouldn't have it any other way.

( 1/2 out of four)

The Big One is rated PG-13 for language. The running time is 1 hour and 30 minutes.