The Big One (1998)

Best movie of this year hands down!

Strong and Moving!

A story that's too fascinating to pass by...

Exactly the movie you think it is, but not the movie you want it to be.

The Big One is a well rounded accomplishment for Michael Moore. This film is almost like watching an autobiographical documentary. The movie highlights the notable events surrounding Michael Moore's book tour for Downsize This!. The feel of a rushed and improvised tour schedule sets the pace for scenes of public speeches, crew activity, and corporate inquisition. The film shows that Michael Moore reveals his humanitarian instincts in even the most hectic of environments. The direction of developing plot is specific to each of the cities that Moore goes to on his tour. The story that surrounds Nike, Inc. is absolutely worth watching. Corporate business is analyzed throughout this film and Michael Moore makes it a point to have the audience think about what they are watching. Highly recommended for fans of Bowling for Columbine, Fahrenheit 9/11, Sicko and admirers of Michael Moore.

Before he hit it big with his latest documentaries, Michael Moore made this one as he traveled to 47 cities promoting his book "Downsize This!" If you get nothing else out of the film, the exchange with Studs Terkel in Chicago says it all. He talks about the Oklahoma City Bombing and the loss of 168 lives. At the same time, a plant closes in Flint and the building is destroyed. The only difference is that they lay off all the workers so no one was left in the building. Which is terrorism? The result of the layoffs will be suicide, child abuse, spousal abuse, etc. Isn't the corporation guilty of economic terrorism?The next most important thing to take away is the fact that we pay corporate welfare to companies like McDonalds and Pillsbury to promote their products overseas. Do they share the resulting profits with the American taxpayer who paid for their advertising? You know the answer to that.Michael Moore is a real American hero and I just hope he keeps sticking it to the greedy SOBs that are stealing from this country.Not as slick as his latest documentaries, but all of them are worth watching. beats watching Tampa bay beat up on the Redskins.

Having exposed GM in "Roger & Me", corporate, political, and law enforcement misdeeds on "TV Nation", and such things in "Downsize This!", Michael Moore brought it all to a head in "The Big One". He interviews laid off employees, shows why Steve Forbes is an alien, and pokes fun at the whole hypocritical nature of so many things in our society. The high point is when he meets with Nike CEO Phil Knight and asks him to build a factory in Flint, Michigan (Knight refuses). As always, Moore incorporates footage from popular culture to great effect. All of this goes to show why he has been the voice of world opinion for at least the past decade. There is truly no one else like him on Earth.

Very good documentary on the uncaring greed of corporate Amerika. I was, as usual, vastly amused by the corporate "whores" who went scampering for the shadows when Moore turned his light on them. Many wouldn't even let him stay in the lobby. These little weasel butt kissers will someday, if there is any justice, feel the unemployment boot crunching down on their own pathetic, fearful little craniums. Amazing how some folks can downsize their brains into feeling "my company" is always right: they need to stop genuflecting at the alter of this false god and wake up to a world of charity for their fellow man. I've been watching Moore for a while, and I don't always agree with him, but I feel he is dead on in his indictment of American conglomerates and their villainous leaders. The reply of Nike's CEO to Moore's question about his employees in the far east was telling indeed: "I don't care." Chilling.