By Kate Erbland (IndieWire)
Translator: csh
The translation was first published in "Iris"
Documentary director Michael Moore's career has been a process of trying to "correct" with his films. So, when the director of "Fahrenheit 9/11" and "Roger and Me" gave his speech in full at the Film Critics Association Documentary Awards-Lifetime Achievement Award, his acceptance speech for winning the 2003 Academy Award for Best Documentary, We don't have a lot of inconsistencies.
When Michael Moore won his first (and only so far) Oscar with his Columbine Incident, the illustrious director stepped forward at the awards ceremony to try to speak out against the then President George Walker Bush and the Iraq War, but after his famous statement - "We live in a false age" - he was quickly knocked off the stage and his speech truncated .
Fifteen years later, Moore rediscovered his speech and brought it to the Film Critics Association Documentary Awards on a Saturday night. The Society of Film Critics and the Society of Radio and Television Journalists came to the Brooklyn Information and Culture Center (BRIC) to jointly announce the winners of the third annual Society of Film Critics Award for Documentary. This year's event was hosted by Bill Nye.
Robert De Niro presented Michael Moore with the Lifetime Achievement Award, while also teasing his somewhat overly outspoken political leanings, referring to his "subtle, thoughtful analysis of the current political landscape" at this year's Tony Awards (Translator's Note: It should be the stage play "My Terms of Surrender" written by Michael Moore and satirizing Donald Trump). When De Niro welcomed the director to the stage, he called Moore "a true, true American hero."
"Well, I tried to decide what to say or write tonight," Moore said, "and then I had this idea. I woke up this morning and started rummaging through all the lockers. La, the box, the folder, because I know I left it, and I did find this thing."
Moore pulled out the old Oscar speech and explained a little bit about what happened that night. At that time, just five days after the United States officially declared war on Iraq - from the initial discussion of refusing to accept the award, to his decision to let all the nominated filmmakers participate in his protest, to his being thrown off the stage - The overview climaxes when he is "dragged" off the stage.
"I never finished that speech," Moore said, "so if you don't mind...it's not a very long speech! I'll recreate what it was like at the time, when people were watching it on TV. as it arrived."
The full speech, with some of Moore's own "remarks" (in italics), reads as follows:
"I invited my friends who were nominated for best documentary with me to stand here, and they are here because they are united with me, because we all love non-fiction. We love non-fiction, but we Living in a fake era. We live in an era where we have fake elections and elect a fake president. That's when chaos begins.
In this day and age we live in, there is a man who makes us go to war for false reasons. At this point, the harsh boos became louder and louder, and I could barely hear myself. These false reasons include the lie of "strong tape" and the lie of "orange warning". We are against war, Mr. Bush.
(Translator's note: The "strong tape" in this paragraph refers to the "strong tape warning" issued by the US Department of Homeland Security on February 10, 2003, which refers to the call on all households to deal with terrorists and consciously prepare The emergency box contains a series of safety products including strong tape. The purpose of the strong tape is to stick the doors, windows and gaps of the house to resist biological and chemical weapons; this warning follows the "Orange Warning" issued by the Department of Homeland Security. The official U.S. Department of Security's alert system is at level two, which refers to a high threat of terrorist attacks.)
You are so shameless, Mr. Bush. Now, I'm trying to be heard by the audience. This sentence wasn't even in the original speech, I just wanted to tell everyone, tell a billion people - shameless, but I need to keep my mouth clean, right, Bob? Now, my microphone has been taken off the stage, and the stage manager motioned me to step down. And I bent over trying to reach the microphone.
Your good days are over when you hear the Pope and the Southern Chicks protesting. My speech was over at this point, they dragged me off the stage...
So now, for the first time ever, I'm going to finish the rest of this Oscar acceptance speech.
So, before I wrap up my talk, I would like to say a few words about the concept of "non-fiction". Talk about how it can be used to erase the lies we hear, and how it can be used as a nonviolent weapon for change and change. After all, I’ve been reading all these years that my first film, Roger and Me, kicked the door open for documentaries, saying it was the first to be widely shown in mall theaters, multiplex theaters in the United States.
Since then, the Oscars haven't let me in for thirteen years, and I didn't get in until last month. I've heard all sorts of reasons before: "Roger and Me" is not a documentary; "Roger and Me" is entertainment, and a documentary shouldn't be; you're undercutting the conversation with boring humor The seriousness of its effects; wait, wait.
People from the rust belt, from industrial towns that are now dead, like me, have basically only a high school education. I barely got out of high school, I failed both English and math, and I got a D in French. Those of us working-class kids are quick to become acutely aware of that class-based discourse system, the way people who have been to a better school—or whatever school—speak to us. Now, I would like to appeal to the people sitting in front of the TV, from Gary, Indiana, Kenton, NJ, East St. Louis, and of course the Flints, Detroiters, Pontiacs and Dearborns, pick up your cameras and fight against public power. Let your voices be heard and stop this stupid war.
Thank you and good night. "
Moore added: "Here, my speech is over! I think I'm going to be carried by you all, by Robert De Niro! Oh yo, Meryl Streep is up!"
In closing, Moore's call to action was as timely as ever: "Tonight, fifteen years later, we are no longer at war, but our present president is declaring war on our democracy, on every One man declares war," Moore said, "everyone here, be ready to pick up your cameras. Because everyone here tonight, you may be America's last line of defense. And here he is destroying I hope you can also rush to the front lines of reconstruction operations.”
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